I am Up to no Good
by FallenMystery
Summary: Lily didn't always hate James. Peter wasn't always our friend. But we? We are Marauders 'til the end. That rule is way up on the Marauder Code with 'we will not refer to Remus' problem as 'that time of the month' This is our story.
1. Hoggywarts

Disclaimer: Not JO!

Chappie One

**Hoggywarts**

This is a story of trust and betrayal. A story of when Hogwarts was ruled by the Marauders. Oh yeah. I was a Marauder. I am Aliep, and this is my story.

Okay, before you go getting us all confused, I know my name looks funny, but before you even ask, it's pronounced Uh-leep. My mad parents were… mad.

My dad's Irish. Red hair, brown eyes, insanely tall—6'6", to be exact. A tad bit eccentric, as far as I'm concerned. He attended Hogwarts when he was younger.

My mum is, well… Supermodel material if she wasn't my mum. Perfectly straight blonde hair, tanned skin, piercing blue eyes. She's 5'11". French accent because she lived in France and attended Beauxbatons (sp?) when she was in school.

And there's my older brother Sean. I've always been his favorite. He's got red hair with mum's blue eyes. At fifteen, he's already 6'2". Not that he's gangly or anything, he's well-built, just—tall. He's going back for his fifth year at Hogwarts.

Anna. sigh What can I say about Anna? She's perfect, for starters. Following in mum's look-steps, if I do say so myself. 15 years old, 5'8", big brown eyes, tanned skin, perfect blonde hair. Basically a carbon copy of my mother with brown eyes. Kind of cool towards me because she despises anything different, and I'm different, to say the least. She's entering her fourth year.

By the way, I'm a twin. Didn't see that coming, didja? We're not identical or anything, I mean, Sinch is well, a guy. Okay, so I suppose I'm not exactly an oddball, as Sinch has coal black hair, but he still got Mum's blue eyes, and insanely tan skin. His features are completely different from mine as well. The only thing we have in common is the slight hair similarity, but even his hair is straight. As my best friend James puts it, Sinch and I are the worst twins ever. You know how they say twins have this odd connection? Yeah, NOT TRUE! Sinch and I do everything together, but we're sadly mismatched. He's the smart one; I'm the troublemaker. I don't even know how tall he is. An inch or two taller than me. Hell, I don't even know how tall I am! This year the two of us are starting Hogwarts.

Okay, the inevitable has happened. It's time for me to explain WHY I'm so different. Well, as you know, the rest of my family has red or blonde hair (besides Sinch) and have brown or blue eyes. They're all insanely tall, all quite tan. Then there's me. I consider myself a disgrace. I've got fair skin, not washed-out, or pale, just fair, with a dusting of freckles over the bridge of my nose. I have curly brown-black hair that falls down my back. My eyes aren't blue or brown, but gray. Actually, I think they might have a blue tint to them, but come on, gray? It's not fair. I didn't even inherit my mother's remarkable features like Anna did. I have shaped eyebrows, ski-jump nose, and a small, delicate mouth. I hate it. My mother and sister have bold beauty, but I have the-girl-next-door look. I'm normal, I suppose. And this wouldn't be too bad if I didn't have a magazine-cover family. I hate my life.

Oh well, Hogwarts in a few weeks! does happy dance I can't wait to have friends that maybe don't know I'm the ugly duckling in my family. Well, James obviously doesn't care what I look like. He's my best friend, as I said earlier, and he lives next door. We play Quidditch in the pitch my dad made in the forest behind our houses. James is also starting Hogwarts this year. Neither of us can wait to get to Zonko's. We're the original troublemakers from Hell.

James already did his school shopping because he's on vacation in Ireland with his family. Lucky sod. I love Ireland. Because my dad's Irish, we take trips all the time. It's my home away from home. His family always seems shocked when they see me. As if my appearance will change if I stay away long enough or something. My mum's family in France, well… I think they're all off their rockers. When we visit, they fawn over me and take me to all these boutiques, and get my hair done and stuff. They think I'm prettier than Anna. Pft! Yeah right. Like I said, they're all of their rockers.

James Potter and I have been best friends since we were in diapers. We were both ecstatic when we got our Hogwarts letters, and immediately rushed out to play Quidditch. Sean and Sinch came with us while Anna rolled her eyes.

It's funny. Anna and I used to be really close. She's been kind of distant ever since she started attending Hogwarts. I think her evil friends warped her. Hey' it's a plausible idea, I mean one day the tried to put MAKEUP ON ME! I mean come on! It was terrible. Absolutely dreadful.

All right, well, the next couple of weeks leading up to Hogwarts were torture, so lets skip, shall we? grabs remote

Fast forward. TOO FAR! Rewind. Pause. Nope. Fast forward. WTF! Seventh year? Ooh, who's that I'm making out with? Never mind, rewind. Pause. Play.

Sean offered to take Sinch and I to Diagon Alley. Mum and Dad agreed, so Sean got the job of shopping with us. Anna and Sean already had their school supplies.

While Sinch and I were getting fitted for our robes, a pretty red haired girl came in with a girl who had dark brown hair, who was quite obviously on a sugar high. The girl was jumping up and down singing 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' in a VERY off-key voice. This is one of those moments where I could be like 'Sinch and I looked at each other and cringed', but I looked at Sinch who was watching the girls with interest, so the cringe opportunity sped by. I know, we are the worst twins ever. The redhead had to practically tie the other girl up to make her hold still for fittings. Then she introduced herself.

"Hi, I'm Lily Evans. The one on the sugar high is Rogue Wolff."

I shook her hand. "Aliep White. This is my twin, Sinch."

Lily shook Sinch's hand. "Twins?" she asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"I know, we look nothing alike. If you saw the rest of my family, you'd be even more surprised." I told her bitterly. As if on cue, Sean and Anna walked in. I don't even know what Anna was doing there. "See," I told Lily, pointing. "Sean is my older brother, who's a carbon copy of my dad, only with blue eyes. Anna is my sister, who is a carbon copy of my mother, only with brown eyes."

Lily laughed. "So you're different, big deal."

"Aliep, Sinch, are you ready yet?" asked Sean.

"Yeah, but before we go home we've GOT to stop by Zonko's!"

"Alright," said Sean, ruffling my hair. Anna and Sinch traded looks. WTF! They're better twins than Sinch and I are! That's bloody unfair!

"Bye Lily," I said. "Er, bye Rogue," I told the now-humming girl. She nodded her head at me. I think. It was hard to tell, as she was rocking back and forth, completely in her own world.

"Bye Aliep." I waved and dragged Sean out of the shop. Anna and Sinch flooed home. Sean grinned at me as I entered Zonko's, the primary world of all pranksters, for the first time in my life. I felt as if I had died and gone to prank heaven. Sean wandered over to talk to the clerk, who apparently knew my brother personally. Figures.

I was walking down the aisles, rather dazed by everything, when I walked into a human wall. Ow. The human wall proved to be a boy who looked to be my age. His glossy black hair gracefully fell into his gray eyes. They were much like mine, actually, but without the blue tint. He laughingly helped me up. He was the original tall, dark, and handsome.

"Sirius Black," he said, offering his hand for me to shake.

I grinned ironically. "Aliep White."

"I take it this is your first time here?"

"That obvious, huh?"

Sirius laughed. "I did the same thing when I first came here. Ran smack into a bloke named James Potter. We've kept in touch all summer, actually."

I laughed. "James said something about a crazy Black who ran him over! He also said you'd give me a run for my money in the pranking world."

"Yeah well, in my house you have to stick out or you get smooshed."

I snorted. "_Your_ house? I've got two perfect older siblings and a twin."

"Oh, yeah! James said you two were—"

"The worst twins ever," I chorused with him. "I know. And we are. Nothing in common. So, what year are you about to start?"

"First, but I've been coming here every day since I got my letter."

"Great, then you can help me, since Sean's not," I said, jerking my head towards my brother.

So Sirius helped me load down on stuff. When we were through, I invited him back to my house for Quidditch. He agreed, grinning like mad. Apparently, James had told him about my wicked Quidditch pitch.

When Sirius met the rest of my family, he laughed. He had though I was exaggerating when I told him I was the odd one. Why does everyone always laugh? rolls eyes We got on really well.

(A/N: I know, short attention span, let's fast forward.) grabs remote Rewind. Oops, wrong button. Fast forward. A little more. A little more… No, too far. Rewind. Pause. Perfect. Play.

With the help of our favorite older siblings, Sinch and I found platform 9 ¾. Anna and Sinch walked through together, then Sean and I ran, just for the heck of it.

"Aliep!" called a familiar voice. I was thus trampled by James. Followed closely by Sirius. The four of us found an empty compartment. It took a minute to explain to James why Sinch and I already knew Sirius

After a few minutes, we were joined by Lily and Rogue. Rogue didn't seem to remember me, so we had to go through introductions again.

"When you saw her, she had just chugged a liter and a half of mountain dew as a bet," explained Lily. Yep, that made sense. I grinned.

"I did that once. It's one of the reasons they knew I wasn't a squib. They literally had to peel me off the ceiling."

Lily looked confused.

"You're muggleborn, aren't you?" I asked. She nodded. "A squib is some one with magical parentage who doesn't have magic."

"Right," said Lily.

"Hey James, gobstones?"

"Brilliant," he said, grinning.

"I play winner!" called Sirius.

Lily watched the game with interest, until she realized the stones squirted us. I won against James 3/3 times, Rogue 3 /4 times, and Sirius… well, I lost 4/4 games against that prat. I couldn't believe it. I mean, I am the gobstone QUEEN. Okay, so now everyone but Lily and Sinch was covered in slime. We were all rather disgusted by it. Well, except Rogue, that is. She was giggling. Go figure.

"Who votes we go find Sean?" Everyone but Rogue put their hands up. Including Sinch and Lily. Rogue was still giggling. I think the girl's a bit touched in the head.

James, Sirius, and I dragged Rogue to a compartment where we found Sean sitting with a few of his friends. Sean saw us and grinned.

"How'd you do, Aliep?"

I grinned. "Of course, I slaughtered James and Rogue, but this sodding idiot bloody killed me!" I told him, lightly pushing Sirius.

"Oh my god, you actually beat her?"

Sirius grinned. "Yeah, well."

"Okay, Sean, PLEASE CLEAN US UP, THIS IS DISGUSTING!"

"Fine. Scourgify."

"Thank you," I said, breathing a sigh of relief.

He grinned. "Luck Ali, you're gonna be a Gryffie."

"Thanks." Some kid came in, telling us we needed to get in our robes. I nodded and left with Rogue and the guys. We changed into our robes just in time. The train slid to a stop.

"Firs' years. "Firs' years, over hear," called a rough voice.

I grabbed James and Lily and we all piled into a boat. Amazingly, the six of us fit. Sinch gave me a shaky grin. OH MY GOD, WE MADE EYE CONTACT! Okay, so maybe we aren't hopeless after all.

Then Sirius, the prat, decided to start howling at the moon (not a full moon, mind you). Rogue shrieked and jumped, which caused the boat to rock. Okay, I have a confession. I'm a klutz. Not your average trips every now and then klutz, either. I fall over my own feet just walking somewhere. I have odd catastrophes all the time. SO, as you can imagine, when the boat started rocking, over the side I went. As I was falling, I grabbed Sinch, who grabbed James, who grabbed Sirius, who grabbed Rogue, who grabbed Lily. And thus we all landed in the freezing lake.

I shot above the water coughing and sputtering. "SIRIUS YOU BLOODY PRAT! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU WHEN WE'RE ON DRY LAND!" We were pulled into the boat, every one of us sopping wet.

Finally, the boats came to dry land. I was to busy thinking about the warm castle to remember that I was going to kill Sirius. When we got to the great hall, a fussy witch I took to be the healer cast drying/warming spells on the six of us. A witch brought out a three legged stool and an old hat, then proceeded to read down a list.

"Apple, Adalia."

The girl sat down on the stool, and the hat was placed on her head. It seemed to ponder for a moment.

"GRYFFINDOR!" The girl ran to the Gryffindor table amidst cheers and applause.

"Aster, Annie."

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Black, Sirius."

"GRYFFINDOR!" no applause. Blacks being put in Gryffindor was unheard of.

"YES!" shouted Sirius, running to the table to sit near Sean and Anna. The Gryffindors recovered their composure and started clapping like mad.

"Cada, Matt."

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Crizay, Varie."

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Evans, Lily."

"GRYFFINDOR!" I clapped along with everyone else.

"Autumn, Fall."

"RAVENCLAW!" (A/N: I can't think of any more names, so from here it'll just be my main characters)

"Lupin, Remus."

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Potter, James." I held my breath.

"GRYFFINDOR!" I cheered for my best friend as he sat down next to Sirius, across from Sean.

"White, A- Aylyep."

"It's Aliep," I said, sighing. Oh, wait. Bloody hell, that's me.

"Good luck, Sinch whispered. (A/N: OMG! Sinch spoke for the first time in this fic! Go him!)

"Ditto," I said as a walked up to the Stool of Doom. Sean caught my eye and winked. I sat down, and the hat was placed on my head.

:Ah, another White.: I gave a little yelp and fell of the stool. Hey, it was startling::Let's see. You have a lot of sneaky cunning. You're devious and sly, full of pride. I'm going to have to say Slytherin.:

:If you do, I'll blow you to smithereens. Just put me in Gryffindor.: I told it boldly.

:Well, you are true and loyal, so it wouldn't be too far fetched. But really, you'd do very well in Slytherin.:

"SOD OFF YOU BLOODY HAT!" I screamed. Oops, I was supposed to say that in my head. I opened my eyes a bit to see Dumbledore looking amused, and quite a few students looking scandalized. I mean, I just cussed out this ancient hat in front of the entire school. Go me.

"GRYFFINDOR!" I smirked. Of course, on my way to sit next to Sean, I tripped and fell flat on my face. I heard a few giggles in the applause. Go me. I sat down next to Sean and waited for my twin to be sorted.

"White, Sinch." Yes, I got the usual looks as people realized that Sinch and I are twins. A couple of Slytherins sniggered.

"GRYFFINDOR!" Sinch grinned triumphantly as he sat next to me.

"Wolff, Rogue."

Rogue grinned like a Cheshire cat and sat down on the stool. WTF? She didn't show a trace of the nervousness everyone else seemed to feel when it was their turn. I swear this girl is from another planet. She winked roguishly (no pun intended) at Sinch. WTF? That's my BROTHER! shudder I don't want to think about it. Ew.

Her psychotic grin was still in place as she debated with the hat. It turned into a frown. Rogue's fists clenched, and I could tell that she was MENTALLY cussing the hat out. Unlike cough SOME people I know :glares at self:. All of a sudden, the hat shot off her head, screaming, its tip on fire. GO ROGUE! I'm sure most of the people in the hall would have loved to do just that. A professor hurriedly put out the flame.

"GR- :cough:- YFFIN- :cough:- DOR!" the had managed to choke out around the smoke. Rogue flipped her hair over her shoulder and came to sit down next to Lily. I decided to ask her about it later.

"Now," said Dumbledore. "A speech would be made here if you could here me over the growling of your stomachs. So dig in."

"Hey, Sirius," I called at the boy. "Sirius! Sirius? SIRIUS!" he was busy stuffing his face. I threw my shoe at him. Yeah, I know, shut up. How could he eat so much at once? I was between really impressed and really disgusted.

"Huh? What?" he asked, looking around when the said shoe hit him in the head.

I thought for a moment. "Never mind, I forgot now." He rolled his eyes and went back to inhaling solids.

Dinner eventually disappeared, leaving mounds of dessert. On one plate, I put what I wanted to eat, and I simply piled another full of sweets. Sirius, Rogue, and Lily watched curiously. Sean, James, and Sinch knew what I was doing. I'm an insomniac. My normal metabolism is to go to sleep at three A.M., wake up at noon the next day. I'm incapable of going to sleep early. Sean charmed the plate so the food wouldn't disappear.

"Welcome back to another year of Hogwarts," said Dumbledore as dessert disappeared. "And hello to those of you who are new. Hogwarts is a place to let your dreams run wild. Where fantasy becomes reality, and reality becomes fantasy. Here, it does not matter if you stand in the shadows of others," he looked at me, I swear. "Here, it does not matter if you're different, you will find your place to shine. Much like a candle, you only have to be lit," his eyes never left mine. What the hell's with the piercing stare? He moved his eyes. "Please note that a Whomping Willow and an Bruising Beech have been placed on the grounds. You'd all do best to stay away from them. Dangerous trees. The Forbidden Forest is still, well, forbidden." He looked pointedly at Sean, who kept a blank face. "A list of do's and don'ts are posted in Filch's office. Find a prefect for your Common Room password,' you'll find your bags and such in your dormitories. Good night."

With that, everyone stood. Sean led Lily, Rogue, Sinch, Sirius, James, and myself to the portrait of the fat lady and gave us the password (marauding mirage). Don't ASK me how _Sean_ got to be a prefect… Lily, Rogue, and I filed up the girls' stairway to the room that said 'First Year Girls' on it.

I ran to the bed by the biggest window and jumped on it. I used a spell Sean taught me to make my initials hover over it. Now a silver-blue A and W twined over my bed. Rogue giggled.

"What?"

"A and W, like the rootbeer," she said, still giggling. Rogue, Lily, and another girl, Adalia, chose beds as well. We all introduced ourselves to her. She was bright girl with wavy, silver-blonde hair. We all liked her at once.

It turns out all the other girls are insomniacs as well, so my late-night sustenance was shared. We talked for hours, learning all about each other.

Lily is a muggle-born. She has an older sister, Petunia, who hates and fears magic. She's sweet and caring, but has a quick temper, which is every bit as nasty as her sweet side is nice.

Rogue's mother is a pureblood, but her father is a muggle-born wizard. She has three older brothers, all out of Hogwarts. She's a Quidditch fanatic, and loves to prank. She seems rash. I also think she's the kind of person who will jump from one lovely idea to the next.

Addie has pureblood parents. She's an only child. Her great grandmother was a veela. It certainly shows. She's very proud, and unfairly graceful. She's calm and rational; doesn't jump to conclusions. She's got a secret, though. Something she's guarding with all she's got. I met someone like this once. I don't remember who, though. Whatever it is, she hides it very well.

My turn. Well, you know about my family. I have a gift of being able to read people. Some people I stay away from because of how they could hurt me. Others I avoid because I see how I could hurt them. I'm mischievous, and I'm a helluva good prankster.

Somewhere around 2 A.M., we all kinda slipped into sugar comas. On the floor. In our robes. My face in a plate of pudding. Ew.


	2. A secret, etcetera

Disclaimer: NONONONONONONONO!

Chappie Two

**A Secret, Some Pudding, and Pink Elephant Ears**

Some of the older girls came in the next morning to wake us up. Do you realize how DISGUSTING it is to have slept with your face in a bowl of PUDDING! Probably not. It took fifteen minutes just to get all the slime off my face. Again, ew. I dressed and headed down to the common room. The boys were still asleep. The girls and I traded evil glances, and proceeded to creep up to the boys' dorm. We opened the door that said 'First Year Boys' on it.

I crept over to Sinch's bed, Lily to James's, Rogue to Sirius's, and Addie to another boy's. Lily counted down on her fingers. Three. Two. One.

"**_WAKE UP!_**"

Three out of four boys jumped out of their beds. Sirius was still dead to the world. Wow. Impressive. I walked over to his bed and shook him. Nothing. Rogue smacked his head with a book. Nothing.

"Did you guys put him in a coma or something?" asked Addie.

Lily started jumping on his bed, Addie poured water on him, Rogue rolled him off his bed, and I hit him with various objects. They boy was practically dead!

Then I got an idea. Me and my DAMN ideas. I leaned down to his ear and whispered, "Sirius, you're going to miss breakfast." That brought him flying to his feet. Unfortunately, I was in the way, so his head collided with my face. I staggered backwards and tripped over someone's hat, clutching my bleeding nose.

Sirius was disoriented for a minute. The girls were laughing hysterically, and the boys were all rather dazed.

"Sirius, you bloody prat!" I yelled thickly.

"What happened?" he asked.

"You almost sodding killed me for waking you up!"

"Come on Ali," said Lily. "We'd better go find Sean to tell us where the hospital wing is. It looks like Genius here broke your nose.

So we found Sean, but instead of sending us to the hospital wing, he fixed my nose for me. Sean rox. Therefore, we were in time for breakfast.

The boy sharing the dorm with Sinch, Sirius, and James introduced himself as Remus Lupin. From what I see, he's very cunning. He has a sweet nature, but he's guarded. He has a secret behind his amber eyes, and because of it, he isn't trusting. This stirred something in the back of my mind. I met someone like this once. Who? Oh yeah, my Dad's brother, Charlie. But I knew uncle Charlie's secret. My uncle Charlie is a werewolf. Oh my god. Oh. My. God. Omigod.

The full moon was tonight, and the boy was rather pale and sickly looking. I could see the wildness in his eyes. He tried to give me a weak smile. He overall looked like crap. Two galleons he didn't make it all the through the day.

The boys sat with us girls, and I found myself sitting across from Addie. She was a lot paler than I had thought last night. Of course, I had been on a serious sugar high, so she may look exactly the same for all I know.

Sure enough, Remus wasn't in Transfiguration. Note to self: give self two galleons later. :insert evil grin:. We were trying to Transfigure matches into needles when Addie, who was sitting next to me, started coughing violently. I looked at her in concern. The coughs racked her body, not allowing her to breathe.

McGonagall sent for Madame Gliss, who appeared in minutes, fussing over the still-coughing girl. Lily, Rogue, and I exchanged worried glances.

(A/N: yep, it's that time again) lunges for remote

Fast forward. Waiting. Hold on, did Sinch just punch that greasy little Slytherin? I wanna see this! Rewind. Play

We were all sitting by the lake. It is checks watch October, my third year.

"I'm bored," said James. I wasn't paying attention.

"Let's prank someone," suggested Sirius. In my own little world.

"I want chocolate," Remus stated. Still not paying attention.

"You always want chocolate," Sinch told him, rolling his eyes. Guess what? I wasn't paying attention.

"Oh, look, it's Snivellus," I mused, idly twirling my wand.

Of course, this caught the attention of James and Sirius. Can you say identical evil grins?

"Oi, Snivelly, wait up!" called James. He and Sirius went running after Snape. The rest of us followed. Me and my big mouth.

"This isn't going to be good," said Sinch in my ear. "After Snape called Lily a Mudblood yesterday…" Rogue caught up with us.

"This is _not_ going to be pretty," she said.

"We know, Rogue," I told her.

We had reached Snape, who had pink elephant ears. No one messes with the friends of James, Sirius, Remus, or myself.

"So, Snapey-poo," chirped Rogue. "Feel so high and mighty now?"

"Don't you _dare_ speak to me, you filthy mudblood," he spat. Rogue stared at him, her mouth hanging open. The tips of his oily hair caught on fire, as did the hem of his robe.

"YOU BLOODY BASTARD SLYTHERIN SCUM! EVER COME WITHIN FIFTY FEET OF HER AGAIN AND I'LL SODDING DISMEMBER YOU, STARTING WITH THE BODY PART YOU HOLD DEAREST!" shouted Sinch, punching Snape right in the jaw, knocking him out. Oh. My. God.

Everyone was looking at the normally calm, sedate, Sinch as if he had grown an extra head. Or two. He looked to me for help like he always did when he lost control of his temper.

"God Rogue, you're such a pyro," I said. "First with the sorting hat, now Snivelly, what are we going to do with you?" Now people were looking at _me_ as if I'd grown an extra head. The things I do for my twin.

Sirius was staring at Sinch with his mouth hanging open. I smacked him on the back of the head. "Snap. Out. Of. It!" Sirius fell to the ground. Then he kicked my legs out from under me. "Bloody prat."

"You knocked me down first!"

"That's pathetic Sirius," said Lily. "Someone that small knocked you down?" Okay, so at thirteen, I'm like 5'2", while none of my friends are shorter than 5'5". It figures.

"Hey, she's a Quidditch player, which means she's bloody strong," Sirius defended himself. This year I was Seeker, for the second year in a row. Sirius and James were Beaters, and Rogue and Sinch were reserve Chasers. Hey, the third year students are ruling! Cool.

"You're a wimp, Sirius," I said, attempting to stand up. I managed to fall back over, this time landing on top of Sirius.

"Owwwww…" A big red mark formed in the middle of his forehead where my elbow hit him.

"And you're a crybaby," remarked James.

"Those White twins are evil, pure evil!" insisted Sirius as we helped each other up.

"Thanks Sirius," said Sinch. We high-fived. Yes, we were getting to be better twins. Go us!

"You two are the oddest people I've ever met," said Addie.

"Definitely," Rogue agreed.

"Rogue, you've got NO room to be talking about odd," I said, grinning.

"Hey, James, Sirius, Sinch, Aliep, can I talk to you?" asked Remus. So we all headed off to the boys' dormitory. I put a silencing charm on the door. Remus gave me a pointed look, which I stubbornly returned.

"Sooo," said James. "Why are we here?"

"Because I need to tell you something important," said Remus quietly.

"Like why you disappear… monthly?" asked Sinch. Of course Sinch knows. Not surprising, I mean, we DO share uncles…

"Yes. You see, my family isn't really THAT sick. I know you all must have wondered how many deathly illnesses my grandmother could have. It's kind of hard for me to explain. I completely understand if you never want to see me again. I'm- I'm a werewolf," he whispered.

James's and Sirius's jaws graced the floor. Sinch and I nodded.

"Why are you nodding?" asked James. Remus had been staring at the floor, but looked up when James asked this.

"Well, we've known—" I began.

"—Since we met you." Finished Sinch.

"You see, our uncle—"

"—Is a werewolf too. We could—"

"—See the madness."

Remus, James, and Sirius were staring at us. Oh my god, Sinch and I just finished each other's sentences! COOL!

"Look Remie, we're not going to push you off a cliff just because you get furry once a month," I said, grinning wryly. "We'll help you through it. God knows we'll find a way."

"Remus, you have to understand, we're your friends. We don't desert each other. Your furry little problem is… overlookable." James said.

"We'd be worse than Slytherins if we did," added Sirius. "You're the smartest, most rational one of us. We'd be toast without you keeping our heads out of our asses."

"Why should it matter if you're—less pleasant—now and then? You always go back to the same old Remus," Sinch told him.

"We're not going to leave you," I said, hugging my friend.

Remus looked up, smiling slightly. "No one's ever taken it this well. See, here, I have a chance to get all gushy and stuff, but that'd be if I was a poof. So let's go prank Snivelly or something!"

"Hold on, I want to talk to James really fast."

I pulled James out of the room. "You're thinking of something really rule-breaking. I want to know what it is."

"Damn, you're good. I was thinking we could all become Animagi! It'd be perfect. We could keep him company during the full moons as animals."

"James, you're a genius!"

"I know."

"Bloody prat."

We walked back inside, grinning like Cheshire cats. Sinch looked at me questioningly. I gave him a tell-you-later look, and he nodded slightly. Remus looked from James, to me, to Sinch, and back again.

"What?" I asked innocently.

"You're planning something."

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!" said Sinch, Sirius, Remus, and James.

"James!"

"Oops."

"I knew it!" said Remus.

"Sinch!" I cried, looking for help.

"James," said Sinch.

"Ali," shouted James.

"Remus!" I yelled.

"James," began Remus.

"SINCH!" I screamed. He slapped a hand over James's mouth. We all heard James's muffled 'Ali!'.

"SIRIUS!" bellowed Sirius. We all stopped yelling and looked at him. "You were ignoring me." We resumed.

"James!"

"Remus!"

"Sinch!"

"Ali!"

"James?"

"Ali!"

"Sinch?"

"ALI!"

"WHAT!" I whirled on the annoying person calling my name. Sean.

"You, Sinch, James, and Sirius are late for Quidditch practice," the captain informed me.

"Oh shit, I forgot," I said. Sean rolled his eyes.

"You're lucky you're a damn good Seeker," he said. "Or all these tardies might force me to cut you from the team."

"James, Sirius!" I shouted, as they were wrestling on the floor. They didn't pay attention. "James? Sirius?" It looked like it was going to be a stalemate.

"Do they normally do this?" asked Sean, amused.

I ignored him. "Sodding prats," I muttered under my breath. "Watch this," I told Sean. "Hey guys, you're gonna miss dinner," I whispered. My voice would be barely audible in a silent room. They both yelped and jumped up, racing for the door Sean and I were blocking. Sirius and James ran me over. Literally.

Sean grabbed them and lifted the two boys up by their robe collars. Now they were struggling madly in midair. "You will NOT disable my Seeker!" he bellowed. "Who also happens to be my sister," was the added after-thought. I was kind of delirious and started giggling.

Once I was restored to a more normal state, and Quidditch practice was over, we all headed to the Great Hall for dinner. Oh, by the way, congratulations are in order! So the guys and I named our pranking group 'The Marauders', right? Well, we're apparently the best-known people in Hogwarts. And Lily, Rogue, Addie, and I are always placed at the top of the lists of girls Hogwarts guys want to date most. 'Go us' is all I can say.

Because of my popularity, guys ask me out ALL the time. But it's really hard for me to KEEP a boyfriend because I have a twin brother and three extremely overprotective guy friends, NOT TO MENTION Head Boy for an older brother. The guys make it hell for anyone who dates me because they don't want there to be a _chance_ of me snogging with someone in a broom closet or something. So I date as many guys as I can because it drives them all mad. It comes with the territory, believe me.

So when my current beau sat down next to me and slid his arm around my waist, I didn't turn a hair, I just grinned at him. Mike Trade was a Ravenclaw in the year ahead of me. He scooted closer, but Sinch flexed his Quidditch muscles and Mike scooted right back. I rolled my eyes.

"No reason to be hostile, Sinch," I told my twin, trying to keep a straight face.

Sinch raised an eyebrow. "Is this the one I caught you snogging in the library last night?" I glared at him.

Mike looked surprised. "Nooooooo," he said, giving me a look.

At the moment, I could kill and not think twice about it. "Oh," was all Sinch said. He knew very good and well that I wasn't snogging anyone in the library last night. Mike was glaring at me, having removed his arm from my waist.

"Something you'd care to share?" he accused.

"I wasn't snogging anyone last night! Sirius, will you tell him I wasn't snogging anyone last night?" I asked in desperation.

"No."

"SIRIUS! Come on! You and I were in the library looking up…" I trailed off. I couldn't very well tell the world that the two of us had been looking up stuff on Animagi, could I?

"So you WERE in the library with a guy last night!" said Mike.

I stood up. "You know what? If you can't trust that I was researching with one of my friends in the library, I see no reason to continue this relationship. It's not even like you were that great of a snog, either!" I shot Sirius and Sinch looks of pure venom, and left. I heard the girls giggling behind me.

You see, Addie, Lily, Rogue, and I got to snog the best of the best. Therefore, when we labeled someone as a bad snog, the ditz brigade puts it down on the guy's permanent snogging record. And he doesn't get as much action as he previously did. So we've got lot's of power. I know, it wasn't totally fair, I mean, he just wasn't trusting of me, but Sinch pissed me off. In other words, I'm not responsible for my actions.

Oh, look. There's Snape. I think pink is a good look for him today…


	3. Beauty's Beast

Disclaimer: 27 bottles of rum on the wall, 27 bottles of rum…

Chapter Three

**Beauty's Beast**

One morning, Lily, Rogue, and I were sitting on our beds doing our homework Addie walked in, looking exhausted. She had been visiting an aunt who had broken her neck, according to Dumbledore.

"Well, Dumbledore literally spelled it out for us, didn't he?" said Lily without looking up from her Charms. Addie stopped in her tracks, Rogue and I looked up in confusion.

"What do you mean?" asked Rogue.

"Well," mused Lily. "A few months ago, Addie had to go visit her cousin, who got struck by **L**ightning. The next month she left to go see her uncle who had something called **Y**ellowpox. The month after that, she was visiting the aunt who had **C**ancer. Then it was her brother who has **A**ids. She doesn't even HAVE a brother. Now it was the aunt with a broken **N**eck. The same one, actually, who had cancer."

"Lycan," whispered Rogue. "You're a werewolf?"

Okay, now I feel like an IDIOT. Bloody hell, I have a friggin werewolf for an uncle, and another as a close friend. Wow, I'm an idiot.

Addie didn't say anything.

"Why didn't you tell us?" I asked.

"Because," said Addie, her voice quivering. "I was afraid you might look it up and find…"

"Find what?" question Lily. Addie didn't answer. "Find _what_, Ads?"

"FIND THAT I'M FUCKING DYING!" screamed Addie. She went wide-eyed and clapped a hand over her mouth. Again, dead silence.

"**_WHAT!"_** was the scream that echoed throughout Hogwarts, erupting from the lips of three terrified girls.

"What do you mean… _dying_?" I asked, my voice shaking terribly.

"I'm part veela, remember?" she asked, her tears thick with tears.

"Beauty's Beast," whispered Lily. Addie nodded. Rogue and I looked at her questioningly. "The veela blood in Addie's veins refuses to accept the werewolf's bite. Slowly, but surely, the subject weakens as their blood rejects their lycanthropy. No part veela who's bitten lives more than ten years beyond their first transformation," she said slowly, as if every word pained her.

"Ads, when were you bitten?" asked Rogue, tears shining on her cheeks, just like they were on the rest of us.

"Just before my sixth birthday," was her quiet, choked reply. She sat on her bed, and we all flocked around her, crying together. It wasn't fair. "I never tell anyone because a) people are terrified of werewolves b) people tend to look at me in pity every time they see me. I just want to live a normal life, or, as normal as I can."

"The transformations are hell," I thought out loud, not remembering that the girls didn't know about Remus. "Well, the boys and I are studying to become animagi to help with that, I bet you guys could study with us, then we could be with Ads during the full moons!" the girls were looking at me, confused. Then I remembered. Oh, crap. Remus. I'll have to talk to him…


	4. The Girl

Disclaimer: I own this no more than I own that pen over there. Oh, wait, that's my pen. Well, then I own this no more than I own a mustang. Wait, I have a mustang… only in horse form. Let's try again. I own this no more than I own two million dollars, so there. :is satisfied:.

Random guy: Miss? You just won the lottery!

Me: HOLY SHITE! Well, um, then… I JUST DON'T BLOODY OWN THIS, OKAY!

Chapter Four

**The Girl**

Let's see. I've got to talk to the guys. But I can't let them know that it's Addie. And I can't let Addie know it's the guys. Wow, I'm not making sense. So, naturally, I headed for the guys' dorm as soon as I got the chance. Mind you, it's been a few months since we started our studies on Animagi. We're to the point that we know what we're going to be. And have naturally already picked out nicknames. James is Prongs as he's a stag. Sirius is Padfoot, the HUGE dog. Sinch is Prints, the leopard. Me? I am bloody frickin Mary Poppins. But really, I'm Trypps, a tigress. Original, aren't they? Of course, we didn't use these names around Remus. It was going to be a brilliant surprise. Anyway, back to present. So, going up to the dorm.

When I got up the staircase, I walked towards the room with 'Marauders' Den' _carved_ into the door. Siriusly… On the handle was the sign "Marauders Meeting in Session." I frowned. One of the rules of the Marauder code was that every Marauder attends a Marauder Meeting. That rule is way up at the top with "We will not refer to Remus's problem as 'That time of the month'." Okay, it's probably nothing. Just don't overreact…

I opened the door to find the guys huddled around a piece of parchment. When they saw me, the boys all went pale and shoved the parchment under a bed.

"Ali?"

"What's going on?" I asked, a slightly confused smile on my face.

"Well, you know, just… uh, well…" Sinch trailed off.

"A Marauder's Meeting missing a Marauder?" I questioned. I noticed Remus was absent as well. "Or two? Oh well. So what's the meeting about?"

Everyone avoided my eyes. "Just stuff." Muttered Sirius.

"Like what…"

"You know, stuff." Then I realized it. I sat down on a bed and put my head in my hands.

"Ali, wait, it's not what you think—" tried James.

I scoffed at him, tears pricking my eyes. "It's exactly what I think." I deadpanned. "I'm the odd one out—The _Girl_. The Marauders are becoming an all-boys association! Bloody hell, why didn't I see it before? You keep me around when it's convenient for you. But when it's not? Forget me! I'm just the stupid girl! Come to think of it, you haven't let me in on a prank in a month!"

"Trypps…"

"Stop it! All of you! Just quit it! I'm not part of you all any more! I see that clear as day! Never mind that I was coming up here to tell you that I have another friend who is a werewolf, and I was hoping we could take her with us when we went out! Never mind that! I'll have to take her myself, since I no longer _belong_ to the Marauders!" They were shell-shocked. I turned to leave, then stopped. "And one last thing? Keep in mind that it is _me_ who saves your arse Sinch when you lose your temper. _I'm_ the one who taught you how to do the Accio charm, James. It is _me_ who tells you how to get a certain girl to fall for you, Sirius. And beyond that? I'm also the one who covers all of your arses with McGonagall. See how many detentions you get out of without me." I left, simple as that.

I went straight to my own dorm and spilled all of my troubles to the girls. What did they do? Give me a truckload of Honeyduke's finest and tell me it would all be okay. But how could it? My friend from forever, James. How could I not be speaking to him? Sirius, how could I really be through with the git? And my twin? My bloody frickin _twin_? How could it be all right?

We all heard something clinking on the window. Rogue went over to investigate and came back over to where I was sitting, grinning.

"I think I found something that will make it all better," she said. Confused, I went over to my window. And on the ground far below I found my hunky Hufflepuff boyfriend throwing rocks at my window, muggle-style. Yep, that could make it all better.

Half an hour later found me forgetting my worldly sorrows by way of intense snogging. Sure, broom closets aren't the best for claustrophobic people, but they suit Dan and I nicely.

So here I am, trading tongues with my boyfriend who's got me pressed up against the broom closet door so hard he's practically sharing my skin. And someone opens the bloody door. Me, being pressed against it as hard as I was, naturally falls backwards into the hallway. Dan, who was pushing against me falls on top.

And standing there, looking like they were trying to hold their gag reflexes long enough to curse the hell out of Dan, are Sinch and James. Both are unnaturally pale. And I'm am disgustingly aware that I am laying on the floor with my boyfriend on top of me, with god knows how many hickeys, with Sinch and James standing next to me. I am terrified of what kinds of noises they heard me making.

Dan and I stood up. Immediately, James and Sinch had their wands at Dan's throat.

"Stop it!" I cried. "What do you think you are doing!"

"Well, let's see," said Sinch, his voice shaking with anger. "We just found this guy snogging my sister in a broom closet. What would you like to do to him James?"

"Well," James replied, voice saturated with rage. "I don't know Sinch. What would you say?"

"Hmmm, maybe castration would teach him a lesson." Dan went white.

"I dunno. Sounds too painless to me."

I realized I didn't have my wand with me. Oh shite. "Both of you stop it right now. It's your fault I went this far anyway." I knew I looked a mess. My curls were an obvious disaster, I didn't want to think about my makeup, I was _afraid_ to think about my hickies, and my clothes were, well, you know.

Sinch took a deep breath and looked at me. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"What does a girl do when her closest friends and her own blood forsake her like that? Find some bloody comfort, that's what."

"So he's comfort?"

"He's comfort."

"Right." Sinch hauled back his fist and punched Dan square in the eye.

"SINCH!" I screamed. Sinch hit him again. "Stop it!" James grabbed Sinch and pulled him back. I ran to Dan whose left eye was promising to be brilliantly colored tomorrow.

"Ali, get over here," said Sinch through gritted teeth.

"I hate you!" I screamed at him. "I hate all of you! I don't _need_ bloody 'Marauders' to be happy! Just stay out of my life and I won't hex you to death!" Making quieting noises, Dan escorted me down the hall, throwing glances back at Sinch and James every few seconds.

I'm gonna need a shrink after this… Bloody PMS…


	5. 22 Bottle of Rum on the Wall

Disclaimer: The Trix, they're mine, all mine! Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids! **The moral of this story: I did not create Harry Potter or any of that happy shite.**

Chapter Five

**22 Bottles of Rum on the Wall…**

This is me. Slamming my head into a wall. Repeatedly. It's what, end of third year now? And I'm positively dying. Well, I really shouldn't say that. Addie's dying, not me. Okay, that was cruel. And I'm not thinking straight. But what I meant in the first place, was 'LIFE SUCKS'. Now I mentally smack myself upside the head and say 'GET HELP'. No, my life really, _really_ bites right now. 'Cos I'm still, STILL, not cool with my guys. Not even Sinch. It's that bad. Could it get worse?

I looked up as a couple staggered across my field of vision, completely attached at the lips. Oh my giddy aunt. It just got worse. I should just hex the two of them into the next millennia, as that hott guy that girl is snogging belongs to ME. Bloody effing Dan! Yeah, we're still together. Well, we WERE.

AGH! I can't even think of a good curse to send their way! The only curses coming from these lips right now are NOT suitable for whatever ears may be reading this. Wait… well, you know what I mean. No one likes a foul-mouth. That was me shrugging guiltily, in case you can't tell. But back to the problem.

Okay, well, sense I can't form a coherent sentence, I did the most _logical_ thing I could think of at the time. Threw my transfiguration book at them. Talk about getting the book thrown at ya…. Hey, what do you want from me? I'm _so_ emotionally unstable right now, it HONESTLY could not get worse.

The two broke apart, looking around for the source of interruption. Judging by the look on Dan's face right now, he was more terrified of little (now 5'3"!) me than he has been of just about anyone in his life. Good, 'cos he SHOULD BE.

"Hey biatch," I said, causing the girl to turn around. Honestly, who _actually_ turns around when someone says 'biatch', as if it's their name! "That's mine."

"Oh ya?" okay, this girl's like 5'8". On other circumstances, I might be afraid.

"Well, actually," I said thoughtfully. "On second thought, you can keep the scum. I _hate_ damaged goods." With that, I gave him beautiful facial bruisings and sauntered away. Far, FAR away.

On my way back to my dorm, I ran into Sirius. Literally.

"Watch it, White," he said. Did I mention I was emotionally unstable? By the time McGonagall found us, Sirius had a black eye, pink feathers, green hair, and butterfly wings along with yellow eyes, blue skin, and red fingernails. I had silver hair, nearly white skin, creepily blue eyes, and my face was all weird and angular, but not inhumanly so.

Our punishment? Clean trophies tonight. I hate tasks where you're not allowed to have wands.

.xXx.

Filch left us alone to go spend 'quality time' with his new kitten. Am afraid for poor cat. Sirius started cleaning the trophies on the lower levels.

"No way," I said. "You have to clean the top levels."

He glared at me. "And why the bloody hell would I do that?"

I rolled my eyes. "Does it look like I can _reach _them?" He blushed faintly.

"Oh." I realized I hadn't spoken to Sirius in _forever_. Or really looked at him, for that matter. We have the same classes, live together, and play on the same Quidditch team, but I really haven't paid any attention to him in ages. He's turned into quite the cutie. Oh fudge monkeys. I'm doing detention with a guy who used to be one of my closest friends, who I now hate, and is distractingly attractive. Someone shoot me now.

I watched him polish for a few minutes. "There's an easier way, you know."

"And what do you suggest, oh princess?" he snapped.

I shrugged. "A girl has her ways." I removed one of the pieces of smooth wood that was holding my hair in a bun. I pulled the other out as well and my hair tumbled down. He stared at me.

"Is that my wand?"

I tossed it to him. "Yep. It was the only other thing I could find that was the same length as my wand."

With a few flicks of the wrist, our task was complete. "You're brilliant," he said. "Completely brilliant."

Um… awkward silence… What do you say to someone you haven't spoken to in like half a year?

Then he spoke quietly, tentatively. "You know, we all really miss you, Trypps."

My day? WAY overwhelming. Sirius? WAY too cute. Me? About to have nervous breakdown. A tear or two rolled down my cheeks and Sirius pulled me into his arms.

"Shh, it's okay."

"No, it's not okay, Pads. I was so horrible. I haven't spoken to you guys in FOREVER simply because you wanted to have some 'guy time'. What kind of nasty bitch am I?"

"You're not a bitch. And part of the problem, I think, is that Sinch beat the hell out of your boyfriend."

I winced. "Hell, _I_ beat the hell out of my boyfriend."

"Ooh, rough day?"

"You don't wanna know."

"Trypps…"

"Ya?"

"Will you _please_ come back to Marauderism? It's just not the same without you. We're missing our token klutz!"

Oh, well that was charming. Not. Oh well, he just looks so bloody adorable!

"What would the others say if they realized you were inviting me back?"

Sirius looked a tad bit uncomfortable. "Well, actually…"

I laughed. I had been out-Maraudered by my fellow Marauders. "You didn't bump into me on accident. Right. Sorry about the hexing… But what the hell did you DO to me? Trying to make me a veela or something?"

"You actually got that?" Figures. Sirius had tried to turn me into a veela. That's something for the scrap books.

We were heading back to the Common Room in a comfortable silence. "Hey Trypps?"

"Yep?"

"Were you being serious when you said you had another werewolf friend?"

"Yep."

"Two werewolves in one castle. Creepy."

No, _creepy_ is 'two werewolves in the same _year_ in the same _house_ in the same castle. That's creepy. Actually, freepy. Ya know, freaking creepy… lol. Sirius didn't press me for the name. I'm impressed. He's learning restrain. Beautiful.

When we got back to Marauder HQ, aka the squishy chairs by the fire, James, Sinch, and Remus were there. They all looked from Sirius to me back to Sirius. I looked from Remus to James to Sinch. Without words, we told each other we were sorry. I let them know I was sorry for being a bitch, they said they knew they had been prats. I sat down in my designated seat as if nothing had ever happened. Sirius sat in his own chair.

"So," I said. "I had this great idea for a Snivelly prank…"

.xXx.

Later that night in the girls' dorm, the girls came over and sat on my bed.

"How do you do it?" asked Lily.

"Do what?"

"How can you be such a _girl_, then behave like a guy?"

"Do explain."

"Well," said Rogue. "The guys excluded you, so you came to us, ate some chocolate, snogged your boyfriend, and held a grudge like a girl. Then you just sat down and had a completely silent conversation with the guys and everything was back to normal. How the bloody hell do you do it?"

I giggled. "It's because I grew up with guys and live with girls."

"Well that makes sense," said Addie.

"Ooooooooh," said Rogue.

We all looked at her. "What?"

"Nothing, I was just thinking…"

"About what…?"

The girl looked at me warily. "Spill," I said.

Addie giggled. "I know that look," she said.

"What look would that be?" I asked.

"Really," Lily said. "I swear, sometimes you do behave too much like a guy."

"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL IS THE BLOODY LOOK ABOUT!"

"Rogue likes someone."

GOSSIP! "Who?" They all looked at me like I was an alien. I feel so stupid sometimes.

"Er, Sinch," said the girl in question.

"Psht, I thought it was something new," I said. "She's liked him like since they met."

"Look, she IS a woman!" giggled Addie.

"I bet I know who Ads likes," I said evilly.

Addie smirked. "You couldn't possibly—"

"Remus Lupin." Her jaw dropped.

"How did you…?"

"You know, I think he likes you too, Addie."

She blushed. Lily giggled. "Oh, don't think you're off the hook, Miss 'I swear to god I don't like James Potter'."

"I DON'T LIKE JAMES POTTER!"

We all heard the faint "I LOVE YOU TOO, LILY DARLING!" from downstairs. Rogue, Addie, and I nearly died with laughter.

"I think he's a terribly arrogant prat," sniffed Lils.

"Oh, come on, you can't mean that," I said. "I've known him forever!"

"Yes, well sometimes I think _you're_ a terribly arrogant prat, too."

Lily was thus attacked by pillows from all sides.

.xXx.

Later that night when the girls were asleep, I snuck out to meet the guys so we could work on our Transformations.

AGH! Sorry, I'm getting terribly bored with my third year. Know what that means? Or have you quite forgotten, as we haven't been here in a while… Ah well. :twirls remote: Fast forward. :elevator music: Here we go. Pause. Pause. Pause dangit! There we go. Fourth Year.

.xXx.

I looked at the stag, dog, and leopard in front of me in absolute shock. Well, I'm sure I wasn't less shocking in my tigress form. We morphed back. I looked at my three wide-eyed friends. "Brilliant." (A/N: Yes, all you sticklers out there, I am perfectly aware that they became animagi in their fifth year. But I'm _also_ perfectly aware that a)there were no 'Aliep' and 'Sinch' in JK's version, b)I don't have to do it the correct way as I don't own the idea in the first place, and c)I'M THE AUTHORESS AND I GET TO DO WHATEVER THE HELL I WANT SO HA BLOODY HA! Thank you.)

I will never, EVER forget the look on Remus's face the next day when our (evil) plot was revealed. It made the hours and hours of studying completely worth it. It made the fact that I lost a boyfriend (What was his name?) because I was studying in the library with Sirius seem trivial. IT MADE EVERYTHING BETTER! I introduced the idea of having a second werewolf along. Everyone agreed to it, even if I refused to tell them who it was.

So later that night, the last night before the full moon, when once again my friends were asleep, I woke Addie.

"Huh? What?" She looked around blearily. I put a finger to my lips and dragged her into the bathroom where I turned on the lights and closed the door. "What's all this about, Ali?"

"Remember what I said about Animagi?" I asked. She nodded confused. I morphed into Trypps. When I was normal again, I reveled in the shock on her face. "If you care to join us, every full moon, I shall be running the grounds with a leopard, a stag, and a shaggy black dog. Oh, and another werewolf."

Her mouth fell open. "_Another_ werewolf? Who?"

I gave her a measuring look. "The names of the other animagi and the other werewolf shall be kept confidential unless you see it fit to release your own name to them."

"Oh." Addie looked down. When she looked back up, here bright blue eyes were brimming with tears and she hugged me. "You have no idea how amazing this is!" There was a heavy silence following. Unsaid words permeated the air. _Full moons are hell, now maybe they might be bearable. Because I don't have long to live. I want to spend my time as happily as I can_. What would you say to one of you closest friends who has a year and half, two years to live?

"It'll be brilliant."


	6. And the Moon Shineth Down

Disclaimer: In short: Sirius would have been as hott in the movies as he was in the book, and he WOULDN'T BE DEAD! I would have made them put a LOT of Oliver Wood shots in the movies. Dumbledore would be alive and kicking. Hermione and Ron would NOT be canon. In the pictures Harry has of his 'rents? James would be HOTT, not old looking with BROWN hair, and Lily would be stunning, not mediocre, with BROWN hair. Draco Malfoy? NOT EVIL! Not by ANY means evil! And more screen time so we can bask in his glory. Cedric Diggory? BLOODY EFFING ALIVE! And would have WAY more screen time than he already has, 'cos he's just SO effing bish! I mean SO bloody bish! Okay? So—I DO NOT CONTROL THE PUBLIC'S VIEW OF HARRY POTTER! The only power I have over Harry Potter characters is what you see before you—fan bloody fiction.

Chapter Six

**And the Moon Shineth Down**

Excitement pulsed through the air. James pressed the knob on the tree with a long stick. We all transformed and climbed into the tunnel. Minutes later, we came up into the Shrieking Shack. The place could use a dusting… We could here Remus's howls and the snap of his heavy jaws. Bloody hell, how do we open that door? Why is everyone looking at me? Bloody prats. I transformed back into myself. Glaring at my friends, I threw open the door and jumped back, transforming before my feet even touched the ground.

Remus bolted out. It took a couple of stunned seconds before we all worked on containing him. I reveled in my tigress form. I could feel my muscles ripple under my glorious coat, felt my claws ready to shred something, my ears flicking at every sound, my tail twitching restlessly. Sinch and I let James and Sirius try their hands first. We both knew that we were deadly in our cat forms and far more capable of hurting our friend than a stag and a dog.

Ten minutes and Remus was relatively calm. I cautiously surveyed him. It was true. No trace of the man within. I gave a brisk shake, and Sinch looked at me with an understanding look. He saw it too. We herded the werewolf out of the shack and back up to the castle. Now to collect Addie.

Addie's hideaway was an underground room. When our party of five walked in, she froze. Weird, because Remus hadn't acted at all like this… Oh, right. We had Remus with us. The two ran to each other like… well, like wolves meeting for the first time. It was all puppy whimpers and tail waggings. (A/N: I don't care how it looked in the movie, because by definition, a werewolf looks _exactly_ like an overlarge wolf. Not that creepy thing they're always depicted as. So there. I wasn't going to make Addie and Remus ugly, now was I?)

Remus hadn't been easy to usher over here. Now he was perfectly docile. Note to self: If I ever write a book about werewolves, remind me to include that they are tamed easily by one of their kind. Wouldn't that have saved Headmaster a bit of trouble? Trying to restrain two werewolves every full moon when he could have just put them together and it all would have been dandy.

Sirius waggled his dog eyebrows at me. I didn't know he could do that. I smacked him with a paw. Hey, he was being inappropriate! Suggesting that Remus and Addie were contemplating 'getting it on'. Sick boy, he is.

The rest of the night was a total breeze. It was amazing how calm the two wolves were around each other. Before dawn, we had them back in their respective hideouts and were wearily trodging back to the castle. With muttered goodbyes, I dragged myself up to my bed and lay down with a happy sigh. And my bloody alarm went off. _No no no no NO!_ I could practically feel the similar groans from the boys' dorm.

"So." Said Lily, sitting up in bed. "Just get in, did we?"

"Die."

She grinned. Rogue sat on my bed. "Spill."

"I'm an Animagus." Slight shock, not really. "And I spent all night herding Addie around the countryside. Now can I go to sleep?"

"Nope," said Lily brightly. "School!"

"Die four thousand seven hundred eighty six and a half deaths."

"Feel the love," said Rogue.

The girls saw to it that I was showered and dressed, had my makeup and hair done, and was at breakfast normal time. Lily was pondering her decision to make me go to school by the time I had poured milk on my pancakes, orange juice in her cereal, and maple syrup in my coffee. The boys were in no better shape. And we all looked like hell. Dumbledore paused on his way out of the Hall.

"The four of you don't look very well," he said. We looked up, white-faced and black-eyed from no sleep. We all had bruises and a couple of claw marks from having to control the wolves at one point in time or another. "Perhaps you should return to your beds. I'll have someone bring you your work later." Dumbledore is like the coolest person ever. He obviously knows that we're animagi and he doesn't give a flying flip. Before we could respond, he was gone, humming to himself.

Wordlessly, we dragged ourselves back up to bed and fell into deep, dreamless sleep.

.xXx.

When I next saw Addie later that evening, she practically tackled me. "Thank you SO SO SO much!" she squealed. "It's never been that easy in my life!"

"Well, I—" Remus walked by, looking much better than he normally did after full moons. As he past, his eyes locked with Addie's. Time seemed to stop. Their gaze was one belonging to true young lovers, a gaze that can only belong to a pair that knows the secrets of the other's soul. Neither breathed, neither blinked. The entire world stopped speaking. And then it was gone. Remus kept walking. The world came back into motion with a deafening roar. I don't know how I was part of that moment, but I know that both Addie and I were breathing slightly fast.

"What was that?" she asked breathlessly.

I could have answered her. Because I knew. How could they share such an experience as last night and _not_ be connected like that? Maybe that's why I was allowed to be included in such a moment. Because I was there when the two wounded souls found each other in the silver moonlight that cursed them so.

Instead I said, "True love." How could it not be? After last night, and however many like it they were to have, how could it not be love? Addie blushed. By the end of the week, she and Remus were 'officially' a couple.

_And the moon shineth down._


	7. Thestral Soup

Disclaimer: If I were JK, this shite would be published.

A/N: **READ THIS!** Now, you are reading this because it is fabulously important. I have been banned from the computers in my house until my grades come up. I am only aloud to write stuff on it b/c I argued that it was unfair to say I could write w/ pen and paper, but not a compie. So mum's letting me use my computer for writing. BUT, I'm absolutely unaloud on fanfic until SCHOOL LETS OUT:DIEZ: WTF am I going to do! So, basically, if you're reading this, worship elli (clueless bystander). Because anything posted until summer will have been saved on a disk and smuggled to elli, who posted it. I hate life right now.

Chapter Seven

**Thestral Soup**

Now, let me start this off by mentioning that if you are going to prank someone using a disgusting material, make sure none of it gets on you. In other words? Our latest prank on Snivelly. The noxious goop we're planning to dump on Snape is known to Hogwarts students as 'Thestral Soup'. It is a nasty concoction used to attract thestrals. Therefore, it is of a disgusting consistency, and smells positively _horrid_. I mean _really_ horrid. Like, not even Flich's creepy kitten would come _near_ it. Ooh, that's a good idea to get rid of the obnoxious little tattle tale…

Anyway, so, here we are, standing in by the lake with a bunch of people laughing at Snape who is covered in thestral soup. The guys and I have splatterings of the stuff on our robes, but none of us thought twice about it. Snape, tiring of the smell, squelched off to the Slytherin Common Room after a while (And the question is: **Will SNAPE actually take a SHOWER!**). I heard a sound, kinda like hoof beats.

"Hey… guys?" said Sinch. The sound was getting closer.

"Yeah?" responded Sirius, still snorting about the prank.

"Um, did anyone think about what would happen if this crap actually attracted thestrals?" We all stopped dead and went pale. Oh shite.

James went flying through the air. Some invisible force ripped at his robes. Something nipped at mine. How convenient that none of us can _see_ the bloody things. We, being the semi-smart people we are, took off running. The crowd had dispersed by now. We might have tried to curse the wild things but really, does anyone know a thestral repelling charm?

Of course, the thestrals move faster than we do. Fabulous. Finally, we were cornered against the greenhouses.

"What the hell are we gonna do?" I asked as we waited tensely for our unseen attackers to… attack.

"Well," said Sirius. "They like nasty things, so let's repel them with NON-nasty things!" And we conjured up whipped cream cans. Different flavors.

So pretty soon, we have eight thestrals covered in multi-flavored whipped cream. And chocolate sauce. Because Sirius couldn't help himself. You know, they look kinda funny… Well, note to the wise, thestrals do not, repeat, DO NOT like to be covered in whipped cream. Multi-flavored whipped cream. And chocolate sauce. This time, they attacked viciously. Not that they were pleasant before, but…

We ran through a greenhouse. With a third year class in it. Sirius waved as we ran though. Then a plant licked Remus. And one tried to strangle James. And the thestrals practically tore apart the greenhouse following us. Nice experience for third years, having unseen things running through their classroom covered in multi-flavored whipped cream. And chocolate sauce. Or maybe seeing Sirius's face caused the screams…

Come on, where the bloody hell do you hide from rabid thestrals? Agh! Sirius is leaving a trail of hot sauce. WHY AM I RUNNING FROM THESTRALS WITH AN IDIOT! Could this possibly get much worse? Oh, crap, I didn't just ask that! 'Cos whenever someone asks that, IT GETS WORSE. This is me, cowering and covering my head, waiting for Zeus to smite us all. Fortunately, nothing like that happened. Instead, Sirius started pelting the Thestrals with strawberries. May I warn you, Thestrals don't like strawberries, either… Really, someone shoot me now. Or Sirius. And why aren't Sinch and Remus having any brilliant ideas?

After this I'm going to need some serious chocolate therapy. And a nice long soak in a VERY hot bathtub. Ooh, look, we're almost to Hogwarts! Maybe we can run inside and close the doors before… oh shite. Thestrals in front of us. We all changed direction and ran for the second nearest thing. Broom shed.

We all crammed ourselves inside. We could hear freepy whipped cream and chocolate sauce covered bat horses beating the hell out of the little shed. I vote it holds twenty more seconds.

"Brooms!" yelled James. So we all grabbed brooms and flew out of the shed. Which would have been a fabulous escape. If the thrice-cursed things couldn't fly. But, ooh, do I love that the guys leave their windows open. We flew, single file, into the Marauders' dorm. Remus slammed the window behind me. And a whipped cream and chocolate sauce covered thestral slammed right into it and slid off, leaving a trail of whipped cream and chocolate sauce on the glass.

We all winced and made the appropriate, 'oooh' sounds. Then we looked at each other and fell to the ground laughing hysterically. I mean come on, we were just chased by, well, you know. Lying on the ground, convulsing with laughter, brought me level with all the junk under James's bed. Something caught my eye, and I pulled a potted plant out from the dark recesses.

"Look!" I cried, still giggling. "I have saved an innocent life from the vortex of Icky Things Under a Marauder's Bed!" Wide-eyed, James snatched the plant from me and clutched it in a maternal way to his chest. The poor thing was like three quarters dead. "Is that… a _lily_?" I burst into hysterical giggles.

James quite literally stroked the plant. "Yes."

"Wow, that's like soooooo beyond creepy, lover boy." I looked pityingly at the plant. "You've never worked with plants, have you?"

"No, you know I haven't." He glared at me as if I were accusing him of abusing a child or something.

"When's the last time you watered it?"

"I give it butterbeer every night," he said, giving the lily an affectionate look.

I could die with laughter right now. Remus rolled his eyes. "I _told_ him that butterbeer was bad for it…"

"Has it been getting any sunlight?"

"No, but I take it for walks in the moonlight. We're not supposed to have pets in the dorm. McGonagall might throw it out."

"You named it, didn't you?"

"Noo…."

"Liar," snorted Sinch. He leaned over to me and said in a stage whisper, "He talks to it at night when he thinks we're sleeping. Calls it 'Evans Dearest'. I rather think they're having a steamy affair after lights out."

This sent all of us but James into peals of laughter. "You can't tell Lily," he said.

I nodded solemnly. "On my honor as a Marauder." James nodded. Now, others may have said that the Marauders have no honor, and perhaps they're right. But perhaps our honor all lies in being Marauders. What greater honor is there than friends like we are? "But let me show you how to care for it, because I don't think you want 'Evans Dearest' to die on you…"


	8. Censors

Disclaimer: Do you honestly forget that I didn't write this every time I post a new chappie?

A/N: **READ THIS!** Yep, still worship El. By the way, there will be a joke in this chapter that you will only understand if you've read 'Because of What?' by yours truly. If you haven't, then let me just say that the students refer to Voldemort as Hello Kitty in the fic because Lily was talking to Voldemort and he was like 'do you know who I am' and she was like 'Hmm, let me see, what other foul, evil beings are trying to take over the world? OMG, IT'S HELLO KITTY!' and he was referred to as Hello Kitty from then on. Just keep that in mind.

Chapter Eight

**Censors**

At breakfast one morning, owls swooped down in the hundreds, delivering goodies to students. My own jet black owl swooped down in front of me, not carrying a package, just hoping for a tidbit.

"Hello, Kitty," I said, feeding him a bit of toast. Yes, I named my owl Kitty. Though most people were under the impression that I named him Hello Kitty, because that's what I said when I saw him.

The owl snapped at Sinch, who was reaching over for some eggs. He jerked his hand back. "Stop it, Voldy!" he said. See, Kitty _hates_ Sinch with a passion, so Sinch calls him Voldy, short for, well, you know.

Later in the Marauder's Dorm, we lounged, doing nothing in particular, but I watched James concoct some sort of potion in his boiling cauldron. He added a thick, clear liquid.

"Was that…?"

"What?" he hastily stowed the bottle.

"Was that acromantula venom?"

"Umm…"

"Prongs, that's valued at over a hundred galleons a pint!" said Remus. By now, we had the attention of the others.

"Where'd you nick it from?" asked Sirius. I rolled my eyes.

"Sluggy."

"Jaaaaaaaaaaames," I semi-whined.

He shrugged. "Look, I know the old coot is positively in love with you and Lils, but really, where else was I going to get it?"

I gave an exasperated noise and slammed my head into a bedpost. "What are you making, anyways?"

"Nothing…"

"James," said Remus warningly.

"Nothing."

"James…" Sinch started.

"NOTHING!"

I waved my wand at Sirius when he opened his mouth. "James…" said Lily's voice, coming from a scandalized looking Sirius.

"Alright, I give, Lily! Just don't hex me again! It's—" James looked stunned for a second. "Wait a second…"

I collapsed into giggles, followed shortly by all Marauders not named James.

.xXx.

I didn't find out what sort of potion was brewing in the Dorm of Evil, not until after Christmas Hols, anyways. All fourth year Gryffindors had gone home for the hols, except for Sirius, James, and Lils. I would have invited them over, but Sinch and I were headed to Ireland with the family :does super ecstatic, really, really happy dance:. But, anyway, the important part is what happened when we got back. We returned to find Gryffindor House a positive war zone.

People walked around with magical protective bubbles around themselves, wands raised, and earplugs in. Sinch and I looked at each other, neither of us having any idea as to what might cause these measures to be taken. Then we heard crashes from the Boys Dorms, yelling, hexing. The crashes, we supposed, were from missed jinxes. No one looked as if it was odd at all. It certainly explained a lot.

Sinch and I pulled out our wands and crept up the stairs to investigate. And both dropped to the floor to avoid a badly aimed curse.

"Bloody hell!" yelled Sinch. The dueling occupants of the dorm (which turned out to be the Marauders', of course) didn't pay us any notice. If they had just been considerate enough to close the door, it would be MUCH safer for us. I mean, we were practically killed just coming up the stairs! Oh, wait. The door was laying on the floor.

My twin and I gaped at the dorm. It was totally trashed. And becoming more so. Let's see, James, that was obvious. But could that _really_ be Lily? With a triumphant yell, Lily caught James with _Levicorpus_. James was much less threatening with all that blood rushing to his head.

Sinch tackled Lily in the most gentlemanly way, while I wrested her wand from her hands. Then, with Lily safely in a body bind, we got James down, and put him in one as well.

"I'll take James, you can have Lils," said Sinch. Ha, sucks to be him. I mean, trying to get James to explain what had happened would include lots of 'bloody's and lots of 'hell's and lots of 'sodding's and all sorts of other curses. And the story finally given would be very biased and rude. Now Lily's story would be prefect-worthy, straight truths, nothing more. I smirked at my twin and levitated Lils back to our own dorm.

An hour later, I staggered out of the dorm frazzled, bewildered, and disoriented. I had never seen someone give a speech like that. I was torn between being really intrigued that Lily could do something like that, and wholly terrified. It was the most biased, long-winded, and foul mouthed rant I have heard in my entire life. My normally thoroughly abused ears were seared from some of the words Lily had used.

I passed Rogue and Addie who were on their way up to the dorm, fresh from the hols. "You don't want to go in there," I croaked. "It is a place of evil, pure _evil_." They gave me a weird looks and entered. I'll miss them.

In the common room, I collapsed next to a smirking Sinch. "Still alive?"

"Barely. So what did you get from James's rant?"

"Actually, it was straight truth, no cussing, short, and very concise."

"Bloody— _**:CENSORED: YES, THE AUTHOR IS AWARE THAT THIS FIC IS RATED 'T', AND THE CHARACTER IS AWARE THAT THERE ARE FIRST YEARS IN THE COMMON ROOM, BUT THE NATURE OF THE WORDS THE CHARACTER CHOSE TO EXPRESS HERSELF WITH ARE NOT SUITABLE TO BE EVEN WRITTEN, THANK YOU**_."

"I know, we could hear Lily all the way down here. Which is why people have been wearing earplugs. And the rest of the safety precautions were explained when we were nearly killed by the fight."

"So what'd you find out?"

"Well… remember that potion James was cooking up? Apparently it was a love potion… which he tried to use on Lily. And I don't mean the plant."

"Of all the—_**CENSORED**_."

"That's what I said. Fortunately, she found out before she drank any. And they've been at war since the second day of hols."

"Wow."

Then Sirius, who had been at Hogwarts during the hols, burst into the Common Room from the Dorm stairway. "JAMES HAS MURDERED EVANS DEAREST! HE THREW HER OUT HIS WINDOW!" Now, there was confusion here. First, people were trying to figure out why Sirius was referring to Lily as 'Evans Dearest', second, irrational people quickly tried to figure out the most inhumane way to kill James, third, rational people tried to figure out how James had thrown Lily out his window when they last heard her ranting from the direction of her dorm. Of course, Sinch and I knew that he meant the bloody plant.

"Sirius?"

"Yep?"

"Shut up."


	9. The Fiery Incident

Disclaimer: If I were Jo, my dad wouldn't be really pissed that I just spent three hundred bucks on clothing.

A/N: **READ THIS!** Yep, still worship El. I can't wait until I can 'legally' do this again! Just like five and a half months 'till summer… Well, I am having a much brighter outlook on life since today. In other words, I spent three hundred dollars on a shopping spree… :innocent beyond innocent grin: And yesterday I got a new cell phone. 'Tis the season of giving? Well, if so, then I give you this new chapter!

Chapter Nine

**The Fiery Incident **

"Do it," said Sirius, nudging me. It's a few weeks after the 'James killed Lily' incident.

"_No_," I said, blushing. I wasn't going to draw the whole innocent school's attention to the scene before me. It's all _I_ can do to keep from gagging. And I've had my experience with these kinds of things. Sinch and some blonde Hufflepuff are snogging energetically at the breakfast table.

I know, you're telling me not to be hypocritical. Sure, Sinch has walked in on me snogging guys plenty of times, but that's what happens when you open a bloody broom closet! At least I snog in private. I swear, I'm gonna be sick.

"Do it."

"No."

"Do it."

"No."

"Do it," said James.

"I'm not going to do it!"

"Do it," goaded Sirius.

"Ugh, fine! But I you owe me ten galleons."

"Done." Sighing, I moved my plate aside and stood on the table.

"If I could have everyone's attention, thanks, that's beautiful." Of course, when I stood on the table, I had everyone's attention, but I was a Marauder, and we observed courtesies. Sinch and the Hufflepuff were completely unaware. "Now, as I'm sure everyone knows, Christmas is _way_ past." Dumbledore looked on with an amused expression. "And with it, the mistletoe as well. First years and the faint of heart, I beg you look away from this gruesome scene, for you may be scarred for life. The rest of you, I ask, what, besides mistletoe, could possibly cause two teenagers to snog so fiercely before lunch time?" There was plenty of laughter, then Sirius shouted 'Hormones!', which induced even more laughter. Sinch and the blonde snogged on, still clueless. "So, ladies and gentlemen, let's do them a favor, shall we, and give them a little Christmas!" James, Sirius, and I waved our wands, burying the two in a truckload of mistletoe.

Sinch ripped away from the girl. And the three of us ran for our lives. At the doors, we stopped, however, and bowed.

"Thank you," said James. "We'll be here all year!" and we continued running. As we left, though, I couldn't help notice that there were two girls in particular who weren't laughing at all. One had an angry, stubborn look in her green eyes, the other looked as if the sounds of her shattering heart had not yet ceased to echo.

.xXx.

Later, I sat with all the guys under a great tree by the lake.

"Hey Sinch?" I asked lazily.

"Yep."

"Rogue really likes you, you know." I didn't feel any guilt in revealing this because he knew already.

"I know." Told ya.

"Then why the bloody hell were you snogging that blonde?"

He didn't answer. We all looked at him.

"Because," said Remus. "He likes Rogue."

"Well that doesn't make any sense—"

"You're a girl," said James.

"If you guys were bright, it wouldn't be just Sirius who asked me for relationship advice. Because to be honest, only he and Remus are doing well love wise."

"Well Remus is doing fine without you, then." Ooh, there was so much they didn't know. I couldn't tell them that Addie was the werewolf I introduced to our midnight wanderings. If only they knew…

"And the rest of you?"

"Hey, I'm doing fine—" started Sinch.

"I'll get to her soon enough," was James's consolation.

I laughed. "James, I could have told you that a love potion was SO not the way to Lily's heart. Though you may still be savable. It will just take a while. A looooooooong while. And Sinch? I dunno what the hell you're doing, but if you have any feelings for Rogue whatsoever, stop snogging that blonde bimbo. Wait 'till Rogue gets over it, then tell her how you feel. She already knows it, same as you. But she needs to hear it." The way they're all looking at me, you'd think I said something weird. I stood to leave.

"WAIT!" I looked at my guys.

"Can't, I have a date." James shook his head. "What?"

"How can there _possibly_ be enough guys in Hogwarts for you to be able to go through them as quickly as you do?"

"How can there possibly be enough girls in Hogwarts for Sirius to be able to go through them as quickly as he does?"

"Point taken."

On my way to meet Heath, I passed a huge ring of people. Ooh, fight! I wanted to see who it was, so I squeezed my way to the front. Really, a path was kinda created for me—I _am_ a Marauder, after all.

At the center, I found Rogue and Sinch's girlfriend, both had wands at the ready, though Rogue looked like she'd rather just throttle the girl. Okay, I should really stop this. Dammit Sinch. I was really looking forward to that date! So I stepped toward the antagonists, away from the crowd.

"Rogue, hon, you really don't want to do this."

"No," she said through gritted teeth. "I'm entirely sure I do." She threw a spell at the Hufflepuff. I hit the deck. Then I jumped back up. And had to duck a curse from the Hufflepuff.

"Rogue! You're going to get in SO much trouble if you don't stop this nonsense!"

"Listen to her," said a male voice. I sighed with relief. Sinch.

Rogue whirled on Sinch with a look of pure anger. I could see sparks around her. Oh gawd, remember Rogue's lack of control when she gets angry? I swear, if she sets Sinch on fire… Suddenly, I was engulfed in white-hot flames. Screaming bloody murder, I fell to the ground. And woke up St. Mungo's a week later.

A/N: Kay, if you want to read something that weaves into this story and is positively hilarious, read Elli (Clueless Bystander)'s new fic. I think it's A Winter Break To Remember. She came up with Aliep's owl and the 'fiery incident'. It's the Griffies in the common room late at night. The Marauders (including my made up ones!), Lils, and some other. It's terribly hilarious. Go read and I'll send you extra cyber hugs!


	10. Werewolves

Disclaimer: If I type 'disclaimer' before writing a disclaimer, do I really have to write a disclaimer, as I've already disclaimed it by writing 'disclaimer' before it? Isn't writing 'disclaimer' then disclaiming it redundant? And if it's redundant, then isn't it like not having anything there at all? And if there's nothing there, wouldn't this still be technically illegal because there is nothing disclaiming this, even though I wrote 'disclaimer' _and_ disclaimed it? Because it would be redundant, and by definition not there at all, even though I disclaimed it twice, making it redundant? Think about it…

A/N: **READ THIS!** Yeah, still thank elli. HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Chapter Ten

**Werewolves**

Okay, so we can sum up the boring time I spent in St. Mungo's by saying: IT SUCKED. Sinch sent me letters with everyone's signatures. They all came to visit now and then, even Rogue. I didn't blame her for what happened. She couldn't control herself. But so help me god, if it ever happens again…

Where's that bloody remote:searches pockets: Oh, right. :Lifts up baseball cap and takes remote off of head:. There's the little bugger. Fast forward. :Jeapardy music: Here we go. Fifth year.

I sat watching Remus in amusement. He paced back and forth in the dorm, tugging at his hair in annoyance and nervousness. James and Sirius watched him go back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. Sinch was off hiding somewhere, attempting to scrounge up the courage to ask Rogue out.

"Remie…"

"I can't do it!"

"Just tell her."

"I can't JUST tell her something like this!"

"Well then what do you suggest?" The good news? Tonight is Remus and Addie's one year 'anniversary'. The problem? Tonight's a full moon. I know, I shouldn't be as happy about this as I am, but come on! Neither of them will be able to have a nice dinner together 'cos they'll be too busy being werewolves! So they have to tell eachother! And then my evil scheme will be known! Muahahahahahaha:clears throat: er, right.

Later, I watched Addie go through exactly the same process.

"What am I gonna do Ali?" she asked frantically, pacing.

"Just tell him. He deserves to know."

"He'll hate me! And I—I love him, Ali. If he scorns me…"

"Trust me, he won't hate you."

"There's something you know that I don't."

"True. So believe me when I say you have _nothing_ to worry about." We girls helped Addie do her hair prettily and sparkly makeup as well. She put on a decent outfit and went to meet Remus in the courtyard.

.xXx.

**BE AWARE! FOR THIS FUNCTION, I, THE AUTHORESS, AM GOING OUT OF ALIEP'S VIEW AND INTO THIRD PERSON OMNISCIENT! **

Remus turned to see her step into the courtyard. The sun was just beginning to set, bathing her in a rosy glow. An incredible smile lit his face, despite his troubles.

"You look gorgeous," he said as she approached. Addie seemed uneasy, though Remus wasn't calm himself. There was a moment of awkward silence, then the both blurted at the same time, "We need to talk."

"You first," said Addie. "I don't think you'd want to speak to me after I tell you what I have to."

Remus, thinking of his own news, shook his head. "Believe me, nothing could shake me." He looked into her startling crystal blue eyes. "Addie, first, I want you to know that I'm absolutely head over heals madly in love with you."

Her breath caught in her throat. "R-remus, I love you."

His face was suddenly tired. "Addie, today is our one year anniversary, and I know we deserve to do something special tonight. But… I can't. There's this thing."

_He's blowing ME off!_ Thought Addie furiously.

"I'm—I'm a werewolf, Ads," he whispered. The girl was in utter shock. Could it really be possible, or was he mocking her? No, she decided, there was no glimmer of mockery. He really was. "I know," he said quickly. "That you probably never want to see me again, but—" The absurdity of it all caused Addie to burst out laughing. She knew she really shouldn't, and the hurt look on Remus's face pained her, but she couldn't help it. "I'm being serious, Addie," he said through clenched teeth.

She tried to catch her breath. "I know, babe, I know, it's just—" she laughed. "It was so _obvious_!" He looked terribly offended. "No, Remus, you don't understand. There's a reason you and I are attracted to eachother. Aliep said it herself. Remie, I'm a werewolf." His jaw dropped. Was she mocking him? Then the sliver-blonde threw herself at her boyfriend and kissed him fiercely. No, she wasn't.

"See you under the moon," he whispered.

"Not if I see you first.

.xXx.

The next afternoon, when we were all rested, Remus walked into the Common Room and smacked me upside the head. I grinned and didn't say anything, though Sinch, Sirius, and James looked at me funny. A while later, Addie walked in and did the same. My friends are prats.


	11. Nose True

Disclaimer: I'm working on it…

A/N: **READ THIS!** Yeah, still thank elli.

Chapter Eleven

**Nose True**

Well, let me start off by saying that all of us fifth year Gryffie girls are very particular about not letting guys forget who we are. For one, we all have remarkably unique scents. Yes, we smell different. Each of us has a certain smell that she likes, and we made sure no other girl used that particular scent. Then we all went out and bought shampoo, conditioner, lotion, perfume, etc., in that scent. See, everything that I own is scented with lavender. No conflicting smells, no chance that a guy might smell me and think I was someone else. Lily's stuff all smells like cinnamon, Addie's is all honey-almond, and Rogue's is something she created in potion class. Don't ask.

Anyway, this all started in third year. Rogue and I had the same scent of perfume. Long story short, she and I were snogging the same guy and we didn't know it. One day, I sent him a letter, scented with my perfume. He thought it was from Rogue. Betcha can guess how that one turned out. So Lily made it a rule that we could all only wear one particular scent. Whatever.

I, however, fudge on this rule… occasionally. When I'm not going out with a guy, I spritz myself with a little cologne. It makes the rest of the Marauders think I'm snogging someone when they're not looking. Sometimes I am, but whatever. It drives them crazy when I've just dumped a guy but smell like a guy anyway.

Okay, the moral of this story? It doesn't have one, but what the hell. Okay, so…… Right now we're at Quidditch practice. Oh. Bloody. Joy. Alright, so this year, Rogue and Sinch are Chasers, James and Sirius are Beaters, and I'm Seeker. Yeah, I know, we take up a helluva lot of space. Oh well.

Three bloody hours later, dear Cappy Josh decided we should call it a day. I thought of six wise guy cracks of what we could call it other than a day, but I kept them to myself. Thank god. I took my time showering, then I slowly dressed. I left my hair to dry on its own, not bothering to dry it myself. As I turned to exit the steam-filled room, I became aware of Sirius settling himself against the door frame, watching me.

I started to grin at him, but suddenly, grinning didn't seem right. His dark hair was wet, too, from showering, falling into his face. His flushed cheeks made his gray-blue eyes bluer. The silence told me that the rest of the team had already left. We were alone.

"Sirius…" He walked to me and put a finger on my lips to silence me.

"I won't tell Sinch," he promised. Then his finger was replaced with his lips. It was a gentle, tender, kiss, yet had more passion than all of the fierce snogging sessions I've had, combined. Sirius held me up, thank god. I felt giddy and exited and terrified all at once. He began to pull away, but I gave up on gentle kisses and kissed him for real. Finally, I allowed us to part. Looking, up into his face, with its kiss-bruised lips (lips that _I_ bruised, by the way), I smiled.

"We're in way over our heads, aren't we?"

"Yes," he said simply, then bent down to kiss me again.

.xXx.

Well, you can imagine the effect this had on my life. It's impossible for me to be in a room with him without thinking solely about snogging him again. So I generally made excuses about forgetting something in another room, and I disappeared. Sirius followed. The real problem? I never smelled like lavender anymore. I always smelled like Sirius. Always.

So one night, I flopped down on the couch next to Sinch, who was working on his Charms homework. "You smell different," he said, without looking up. Sirius gave me a slightly startled glance. Sinch _did_ look up, then. "No, you smell familiar."

All activity in the Common Room halted. Of course, it was just us Marauders, but… whatever. Sirius and I could totally like die right now. "You smell like Sirius," added James. Thanks, Genius.

"Yeah," said Sirius. "Trypps was cold earlier, so I leant her my hoody."

"Oh," Sinch remarked, and turned back to his work. I looked at Sirius with wide eyes. He's good. Dammit. Now I wanna snog him again. Why is it that everything he does makes me want to snog him? Sirius coughed.

"I left my Transfiguration book in the dorm. I'll be right back."

"I'll help you look for it."

"But we were going to go down do the—" James's voice was wasted on empty air.

.xXx.

When I woke up the next morning (Saturday), I immediately realized I wasn't where I was supposed to be. Guess where I was! Laying on Sirius's bed. With Sirius's arms around me. First thing I thought? Clothes? Check. Lip gloss? Nope, oh well. Lavender? Definitely not. I'm dead. Thank god the curtains were drawn. Sirius was awake too, unmoving. It sounds like the rest of the guys are awake. Bloody hell. Sirius and I had been talking late last night. Guess we fell asleep.

How the hell is it going to look if Sirius and I just get out of his bed? I mean come on! Sinch would kill him, like so dead. It's not like anything happened, but, that's not the point. The point is, Sinch would freak if I woke up in Sirius's bed. Sirius and I stiffened as we heard said brother's voice.

"Padfoot has been sleeping _forever_. Let's wake him up." Now would be the time to panic. OMG! We're going to die! I hurriedly ran my hands through my hair. Sirius just looked around, completely panicked. We're so—

"Hey, Sinch," James said. "I can't find Aliep. The girls said she didn't come back to the dorm last night. Does Sirius know where she is?"

I'm going to hurt James so badly when I get the chance… Must… make… escape… I am the master of getting out of tight situations! Suddenly, light flooded in, and from the look on Sirius's face, Sinch was standing right behind me. My guess is his face is redder than a brick. He probably looks like he's ready to throttle someone. James is probably dead white, worried for our safety. Remus will be standing there with that all-knowing look on his face, 'cos chances are he already knows. I glanced around real quick. Yep. I was right. I hate it when I'm right.

"I'm. Going. To. Kill. You." Damn, I'll miss you Sirius. Sinch lunged for Sirius, I threw myself out of the way (yeah, protective, aren't I?), Remus and James tried to contain Sinch, and Sirius tried desperately to grab his wand.

"SINCH!" I yelled. He turned his head slightly. Sirius morphed into dog form. Which was totally dumb, 'cos then Sinch turned into a leopard. I turned into a tigress faster than you can say 'Supercalafragilisticexpialidocious'. James turned into a stag, and together we tried to calm my brother down. Not working. Finally, I just smacked him. In cat form, he growled. I gave a hair-raising wild-cat scream. Thank god the guys soundproofed this room years ago. We circled each other, as James and Sirius turned back into themselves.

"Listen, Sinch," Sirius said. "Look at it this way. If Trypps is snogging me, it keeps her from snogging tons of other guys." Gee, thanks Sirius. However, Sinch morphed back, a thoughtful look on his face.

"Good point. Thanks, mate. Let's go get some food, guys." I resumed my given form, gaping at my friends. Sirius shrugged as he followed the guys outside. I swear, there are some things I will just never understand about guys. Note to self: smack Sirius later.

.xXx.

It was later that day McGonagall came into the room, towing a short boy behind her. He was chubby with blue eyes and blonde hair. He looked nervous and kept glancing around. For a second, the cold finger of fear traced my spine. Then it was gone.

"This is a transfer student from Durmstrang," McGonagall was saying. "He's to be in fifth year. Peter Pettigrew."


	12. The Curse

Disclaimer: Is the apocalypse here yet? No? Then I don't own the universe any more than I own Harry Potter. Or Dan Radcliffe, for that matter…

A/N: **READ THIS!** Yeah, still thank elli.

Chapter Eleven

**The Curse**

It wasn't until later our fifth year that the rest of the Marauders and I took to the new boy. He was quick to recognize trouble, which made him a valuable sentry, he was actually an animagus, which meant he was welcome on full moons, and as an added bonus, he worshipped the ground we all walk on. What could be better?

Rogue says he's adorable, but I think she says it to spite Sinch. Lils doesn't seem to like him much; my guess is because he idolizes James. Addie has a sever aversion to him, though I don't know why. She normally tries to get on with Remus's and my friends.

There was one particular time that is burned into my heart for eternity. It started as a small thing, a nosebleed, no cause for worry. It happened during Transfiguration. Addie, shrugging ruefully, merely stemmed the crimson stream with a handkerchief. The rest of us returned to our tasks. The blonde coughed lightly, covering her mouth with her free hand. I watched her with one eye and continued with my wand-waving.

The next day, the same thing happened again. This time, during Potions. Except her nose bleed was worse, and the polite cough turned into racking spasms. Lily, Remus, Rogue, and I began to worry about our friend.

On the third day, during Charms, Addie literally coughed herself unconscious. Flitwick hurriedly sent for the healer, who in turn whisked Addie away quickly. Confused, I turned back to my essay. Lily's quiet sobs distracted me.

"What's the matter?" I asked.

"Don't you understand?" she whispered, tears rolling down her cheeks. "Addie's nearly sixteen. _Ten years_, Aliep. _Ten years_."

I let out a strangled cry, and quickly excused myself to the lavatory. The knowledge of what was happening to my friend made me physically ill. Soon I became aware that both Lily and Rogue were doing much the same. When we were all cleaning ourselves up, Rogue said that Flitwick had excused us for the rest of the day.

The three of us spent the entire day sitting by our friend, hands entwined, sharing pain only we felt. Remus wasn't there; he didn't know of the disease. He came to find us after classes were over. With him were James, Sirius, and Sinch. Peter wasn't included.

"What's the matter with her?" Remus whispered.

"She's part veela, Remus, remember?" Lily asked.

Wordlessly, Remus dropped to his knees beside his girlfriend. Tears flooded from his eyes as he took one of her hands. "How long has it been?"

"Ten years," was my quiet reply. He said nothing, just stared at Addie.

"What's going on?" James wanted to know. He looked pained to see Lily so distressed.

"Addie's a werewolf," explained Rogue. "It's Beauty's Beast." Silent understanding met those words, but it was as loud as warfare in that echoing room.

Sinch rested a hand briefly on my shoulder, accepting my pain as his own. Then he left to put his arms around Rogue, who turned into his embrace, sobbing. He made comforting sounds, stroking her hair lightly with one hand.

Sirius, with a wave of his wand, turned my uncomfortable chair into a couch. He sat next to me and pulled me into his arms.

Lily sat stiffly, alone, without comfort. James looked at her, longing to ease her pain, but not knowing how. She stood to stretch, and he was suddenly behind her, massaging aching muscles with tender hands. Lily's eyes flickered, as if she wanted to fight it, but suddenly turned, pressing her wet face against James's chest. He gently kissed the top of her head.

_Addie would be pleased,_ I thought. _That we all finally understand._ I looked to Remus, who sat, unmoving. He wasn't comfortable, kneeling on the hard floor, but I could tell he needed it, and would not move. He dealt with his pain in his own way; comfort was beyond him now.

Through the long hours of the night, we sat together, for the most part unmoving. Together in our suffering, alone in our pain. We felt each other's presence, took comfort in it, but to each in our own, felt solely alone. We were dying in isolation, in the presence of those so close to our skin, so far from our souls. Addie remained unconscious, though not oblivious. She knew we were there. We knew we were there.

She woke in the early hours of the morning, silver eyes fluttering open. She gave us a weak smile as the healer checked her over.

"Miss Apple, we've spoken many a time, and you understand…" the woman began, but her voice meandered off. She looked from each of us to the next, taking in our understanding and pain. Slowly a look of acceptance spread on the healer's face. "You children give an old woman hope," she whispered. "I'll just leave you to yourselves, then."

There wasn't any talking to be heard, for there was nothing left to say that we didn't know. Remus lay on the bed next to Addie. The two of them, a beacon of hope, two lost souls too perfect for this world, too innocent to live. This life was not meant for them. As it was not meant for many.

If we hadn't all been so completely aware of each other in that time, we may have actually missed it.

Addie whispered quietly, "I want you all to listen to what I have to say, for I shan't say it again." A ghost smile touched her lips. "Rogue… fear will betray you to your friends and all you hope will come crashing around you. Trust those before us now… all others need not know. Sinch? She is wanderer and you the star. If you do not help her, she will stray. Sirius, stay out of trouble, and stay with those who love you. Trying to protect them will only harm you all. James. A goal out of reach is one always worth trying for. Never forget what you know must be. Lils… Fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself. So call love by its name, for that is what it is, and always will be. Aliep, just remember that you, though naturally suspicious, are generally quite right in your suspicions. If it looks like a dog, and it barks like a dog, then it probably has fleas like a dog. Or something like that. And Remus, darling," shining tears left pearly trails down my friend's face. "The moonlight that curses us even now and has sent me to my death, is still what brought us together. I would rather a short time with you than ten lifetimes alone. Never, ever forget how much I love you."

We were all digesting what Addie had said to us individually when, quietly and gracefully, like silent fog on an unseen morning, she left us. Her silver eyes fell closed, her breath fluttered like a moth, her life flickered like a candle. And she was gone.

Not a one of us made a sound. She looked beautiful, laying there, silver blonde hair spread elegantly on her pillow, touched by the first morning light. Life was cruel for those too perfect for it. Remus closed his eyes and held her ever closer, afraid to let go to the one thing that had made his life worth living.

I looked around at my friends. All looked desolate and lonely, despite the fact that we all clung to each other for dear life. We were all alone together and terribly unable to escape. Madness spun its web over that of pain and anguish as the screams of doomed souls echoed in our ears, in our minds, ripping from our mouths in wordless shrieks fit only for the dead to hear. But all was silent.

Except for the pain.

A/N:clears throat: er, sorry, that was hard for me to write. I loved Addie dearly, she's one of my favorites. When I realized I had to do this to her, I was shocked by my own cruelness. But what must be done must. Adieu my faithful readers. Leave a review?


	13. Alone

Disclaimer: The purple Ninjas and their blue monkeys stole this from JK. And I stole it from them. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

A/N: **READ THIS!** Yeah, still thank elli.

Chapter Twelve

**Alone**

_Alone and dying did that old dawn-ed break,_

_And the dead bell did ring the children wake,_

_The cock did crow, o'er the chicken cluck,_

_The dawn, it did speaketh of grand new luck,_

_But fearful was his drawn-ed breaking heart,_

_For never did a dawn give such cold part,_

_Away to lovers minds and lovers hands,_

_Never again should they touch such their hands,_

_For twas she that lay in that wand'ring grave,_

_And he alone was doomed to stay, her knave, _

_For the dawn that breaketh did take his place,_

_For light it did on her departed face._

**As much as I'd like to disclaim that, I can't. Dammit…**

How do you pick up the thread of an old life? That was how Tolkien put it. How do you deal with such a thing? Each in his (or her) own way. Remus disappeared alone, to trod the paths their moonlit feet did wander together, though alone in the light his shadow will sway. Sirius, Sinch, and James disappeared one by one, perhaps in search of their friend, perhaps to wander their own roads of thought.

The girls and I together headed back to our dorm. But how could we stay in a dorm infested with so much memory? Addie's bed was already gone, her trunk removed. With a flick of Lily's wand, the three remaining beds moved together. We lay down on the middle one, absorbing comfort. Soon, Rogue and Lily fell into the deep, untouchable sleep of absolute exhaustion and pain.

I lay awake, tortured by the restless dead. Raucous voices screamed in my ears, echoes of forgotten souls releasing their wrath on those still living. Down my face rolled tears of pain that was not remorse, but physical pain of hands pressing my mouth hard enough to bruise. Muffled screams tore at my throat as I ripped at the hands. They were my own.

An hour later I found myself deep in the Forbidden Forest. I was by myself, but was not alone. There were no sounds, but all was not quiet. There was no light, but I stood not in the dark. Was I leaning against a tree, or was I falling through space? Were leaves under my hands, was it really dirt under my knees? Perhaps I spun in a vortex of madness. If so, I found myself unable to climb out.

Suddenly, I ran into solid warmth. Crying out, I felt iron like arms wrap around me as I pressed my face into Sirius's strong chest.

"Shhh, it's okay," he whispered.

_It's not_, I wanted to tell him, but all that came out were whimpered tears. He picked me up, but I was too far gone to be able to enjoy the unique sensation of being carried by someone who handled me like a kitten. I realized I had finally found rest of sorts, lulled by being with someone who accepted my pain, absorbed it, took it as his own and burdened me with none. Darkness that was real, tangible, and wholly there, fell over my eyes.

A/N: Washed out, but needed to write, don't ask. Just a filler chapter, really.

Ciao, Sami


	14. Summer Drab and Licorice Wands

Disclaimer: This belongs to me. All Joe's stuff doesn't, tho.

A/N: **READ THIS!** Yeah, still thank Elli.

Chapter Thirteen

**To Remember**

In the dark summer months, our tender hearts were eased, away from the setting of so much memory. At home, we were comforted by parents and friends, though away from each other, we were weak. Lucky me, I had Sinch and James at close access. But where was Sirius? Lily, Rogue, Remus, all of them out of my reach.

Honestly, I love Sinch and James. They're my brothers. Sean, and even Anna tried to console me. But how can someone get over such a thing? There's a hole in my life that was once filled with a bright, bubbly girl. I have no tears left to shed, no way left to ease my pain.

I can talk to Sean about it. He's an Auror now. He's seen his fair share of death and anguish, he's comforted aching hearts and consoled pained souls. I don't know what I'd do without him.

It seems, in my own distress, I have looked over the pain of others. James. He had one night, holding Lily against his body as she mourned her dying friend. But since then? Lily has been cold and distant. I feel like _I _barely know her anymore. When I see her, that is.

Everything's changed. Personalities, friendships, love. It's all different. Lily, who was always so outgoing, encouraging us to befriend our bumpkin, was now so drawn into herself that she reminded me of a flobberworm. Rogue, with her impish ways and sharp tongue, doesn't speak much. She's even stopped pining over Sinch. And Remus? Who lost the love of his life? Will never be the same. Sure, he pretends like it doesn't bother him—that she's in a better place. But really. Sinch, Sirius, and James, who loved Addie dearly, are more concerned about the rest of us, are doing everything they can to make things right again.

All I can think to do is follow Remus's example. I'll pretend like it doesn't matter. Sure, when no one's looking, I'll fall all to pieces, but in public, I have to be strong. For my friends. Time to put the grief away and resume my part as a Marauder. Remus has already done it, and he's Addie's boyfriend.

I have to be there to help Lily and Rogue through their pain. I have to help James with the sorrows of his heart and Sinch with his. I have to forget that this ever happened. It needs to be done, and I've waited too long. Don't think I haven't a heart, though. Like I said, when I'm alone, I'll still go all to pieces, but I don't have to do it in public.

With this new purpose in mind, I flooed to Lily's house. Nodding to her parents, who greeted me with relief, I continued up to my friend's bedroom. About to knock on her door, I heard Lily arguing with herself. _Lily_. Arguing with herself. _Over JAMES_. I pressed my ear to the door.

"I don't like James Potter!" I heard her say in an irritated voice. I could tell she was pacing. "I mean, I can't like James Potter! He's like, James Potter." I tucked away a smile and pushed her door open.

"Good God, you're slow, Lils." She looked at me like a deer in the headlights.

"Once again, I mention that you're like a cat. I never hear you until you're right there," she said, grinning ruefully. Yes, well, there are advantages to being an Animagus. Unless you're Sirius. Or Peter. Definite disadvantages there. Except for Sirius being so adorable in a puppy-like fashion… Um, what was I saying? Oh, right, LILZ LIKES JAMES! HAHAHAHAHAHA! Then her eyes went uber-wide. "You're going to tell James all of this, aren't you?"

"Anything you say can and will be held against you in the Court of Marauders," I quoted. Marauders' rules. I'll write you a copy sometime.

"Noooooooooooo!" Lily threw herself to my feet, wrapping her arms around my legs. "I beg of you, anything but that!" Lily has a flare for the dramatic. Did I mention that?

"Well," I said cruelly. "Let's go back to my house and discuss what you can do to get out of this. Besides, I got in a new shipment of licorice wands." Lily's eyes lit up.

"I do love licorice wands." I know. :rolls eyes: I bought them to bribe her. Duh.

The first thing we heard when we stumbled out of my fireplace was the very last strands of Twelve Days of a Marauder's Christmas. I joined in.

"And a bottle of Ogden's Whiskeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey," I sang, accompanying Sirius. I love it when he sings. He doesn't have a record-breaking voice, but it's certainly not glass-breaking. And it's so _hott_ when he sings! Um, where was I?

"_Trypps!"_ I heard the elated shout. Lily threw herself out of the way as a madly grinning Sirius charged down the stairs. I love that I'm the only person who can put that look on his face every time he sees me. The moment he got to me, he swept me up in his arms, kissing my forehead, throat, cheeks, eyes, nose, and lips. Basically what ever was closest. Funny thing about losing Ads. I no longer take for granted the little things.

"Hey, Lils," I said between kisses. "The box of wands is on my bed. Gorge." With a shriek, Lily left.

Sirius looked at me, shocked. "What?" I asked.

"James is over here…"

"And?"

"He's using your room to change out of Quidditch robes…"

I stifled a laugh on Sirius' shoulder. In my defense, I swear to god I didn't know about this. I swear, I swear, I swear! We heard the yelp that was James as Lily flung my bedroom door open. The gasp was Lily, most likely surveying James' boxer-clad form. I will never let her live this down.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEPPPPPPPPPPPP!" she screamed. James has possibly fainted. Either that or she just threw something at him. Which would be silly, 'cos _she_ barged in on _him_. WAIT! But it's my fault!

"RUN!" I yelled to Sirius. Better yet, he picked me up in his arms and jumped out the window!

… we landed on his broom…

… and it was really cool!

Okay. So maybe we didn't land on the broom. 'Cos we didn't jump out the window. 'Cos Lils hit us with Stunners. Which would be totally illegal if it weren't in my house. The ministry doesn't monitor my house because we have of-age wizards living in it. So they'll never know. And Lily gets of free. Damn. Wait, where was I? Oh, right. LYING ON THE FLOOR… STUNNED. Then Lily woke us up to kill us.

"Sirius, you are completely useless!" I said twenty seven seconds later as he and I locked ourselves in my room, pushing against the door for good measure.

"I'm not _completely_ useless!" he defended. "I can be used as a bad example!" I rolled my eyes.

"Its moments like these that make decent, ordinary people SNAP and become cold-blooded murderers," James mused, standing inside the room with us. Well I wasn't going to leave him to the redhead's wrath, was I? Okay, so he was still in the room when Sirius and I locked ourselves in it, but whatever. I enjoy sounding like I care.

"Fortunately no one in this room was ever decent or ordinary," I retorted. James munched on a licorice wand.

"I was talking about Lily."

"ALIEP DON'T YOU EVEN SAY A WORD!" Lily shouted. A hex blew a hole in the door next to my head. Lily stuck her head in, laughing hysterically. Where's my wand?

"Um, does anyone have their wand?" Sirius asked. James and I shook our heads. Naturally. Wait, where's Sinch? He might be able to save us! I mean—okay, what am I thinking? Shoot me now and save Lily the trouble.

"You're all going to die!" Lily cried, still laughing.

"Lily, love, don't do anything drastic," James said calmly. At the sound of that cool voice, Lily's wand wavered a bit. I lunged for it, and yanked it from her hand. Sirius shoved a licorice wand into her mouth. Lily looked startled, but the candy calmed her. She sat down on the floor, as happy as a little kid, nibbling on licorice wands. James set her on my bed.

"Alrighty then," he said, slightly disturbed by the sudden change in Lily. "I should remember that next time Lily tries to kill me…"

From that moment on, James carried a full supply of licorice wands in his robe pockets.

A/N: Yeah, that was kinda awkward to follow, I know. Sorry. It was just so bloody amusing! Lol.

I love you all very much, now please review or I'll send the evil purple elephants after you. I now have an army of them. So there.

Luv much,

Sam


	15. AUTHORESS NOTE

**Hey folks! This is your most _favorite_ authoress! I know, ur pissed 'cos this isn't a real chappie, but I needed to celebrate my ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF POSTING ON FAN FICTION! PARTAY! **

**Yes. Today, one year ago, I posted the first chappie of Because of What?. But I didn't have another chappie of anything else ready, so u get a retarded A/N. WITH NO DISCLAMER 'COS THIS SHIT IS MINE! **

**Luv to all of my reviewers!**

**Sam**


	16. Return

Disclaimer: Did you know that American chocolate has to have a certain percentage of cocoa in it to be considered chocolate? IF SO, THEN WHY DOES IT TASTE LIKE SHIT! Seriously! EUROPEAN CHOCOLATE ALL THE WAY! Oh, and I don't own Harry Potter.

A/N: I've eaten like a pound of German and French chocolates today, no joke… this is the outcome… RUN AWAY!

Chapter Fifteen

**Return**

You could have heard a quill drop, I have no doubt. My tears certainly seemed loud enough. Sinch hugged me. I held on to my twin like there was no tomorrow. Dad held Mum tightly, all of us trying to deny it. Anna was missing, according to the Ministry. She had been working at the Ministry of Magic Headquarters in France. And she was missing.

Let me say, it's one thing to go missing in normal times. For a young witch to go missing in Dark Times… Anna's probably dead. The front door opened, causing all of us to flinch. Sean walked in, smiling. When he saw us he frowned.

Sinch and I threw ourselves at our brother. "Anna's missing," I whispered. Sean went pale and held on to us.

"Oh god."

.xXx.

The train ride to Hogwarts was quiet. The girls shared a compartment with the Marauders without complaint. Lily and James barely tussled at all. It was so strange. Three Gryffindor girls, where there had once been four.

Our back-to-school prank was fabulous, as normal. People would suspect the world was coming to an end if the Marauders stopped pranking. Sirius and I stayed up late at nights, talking. We talked about school, life, love, friendships. Sometimes our other friends joined us. Other times we were alone. So totally alone.

.xXx.

Okay, so, remember that remote? Yeah, it comes back……….. now! Fast forward. A little more. A little more. That's good. December. What fun.

Christmas loomed closer, each of us trying to avoid it. By now, it was certain that Anna was dead. My _sister_ was dead, killed, gone forever. My sister had died. Anna Marie White. I didn't talk about it, but Sinch did. He talked with Sirius, or Remus, or James, while I hovered on the edges of such conversations, not saying a word.

Quidditch was our only relief, it seemed. With James as Captain, we couldn't lose. Of course, our winning streak was due to the brilliance of Sinch, Sirius, and myself. Sinch planned it, Sirius implemented it, and I added fuel to the fire.

Sirius would write a note saying something along the lines of, "You're dead, Potter. When Lily sees me winning the game, and you with your head in your hands, shamed, she'll be mine. Say your prayers."

James would read this and turn a bright fuchsia color. Then I'd say, "I know that handwriting! It looks like—" then I would insert the name of the Captain of the Quidditch team we were playing against.

Then James would thoroughly beat up the said Captain, then thoroughly slaughter his team. We were so good.

Christmas came and went. Life was beginning to take on a routine. Not the same as it used to be, but new, different, yet still routine. We Marauders began to brighten once more, and the school with us.

And then? Then came…

A/N: WHAT? WHAT CAME? You'll see… :wicked smile:


	17. Blake Frost

Disclaimer: Raise your hand if you've heard this before…

Chapter Sixteen

**Blake Frost**

Then came Blake Frost. Blake Frost, Blake Frost, my kingdom for Blake Frost. Or, Lily's kingdom, anyway. Blake Frost, the sixth year Ravenclaw Lead Chaser. He had blonde hair spiked in a sexy way, and blue eyes like none other. He was the perfect gentleman, and apparently adored Lily.

The couple could be seen walking to classes together, holding hands. Of course, then Blake would have to sprint to his own classes, but he didn't seem to mind. They went to Hogsmeade together, they laughed, talked, and sat by the Lake. They killed James.

Well, not physically. They killed his heart, little by little, tore it apart, piece by piece. I began to wonder how much the boy could take. I tried to tell Lily, but she wouldn't listen.

While we were in classes, a stony silence would echo between Lily and James. The time I had found the lily under James' bed seemed so far away. We used to be so _happy_. Now all of that had dissolved. Addie was gone, James and Lily hated each other. Everything was falling apart.

Once upon a time, in a Hogwarts so long ago, the boys used to hex other people for insulting Lily, Rogue, or Addie. Addie. I miss Addie dearly.

.xXx.

One evening, the Marauders, Lily, Rogue, and Blake, who Lily had let in, were in the Common Room together. Lily and Blake flirted, Sirius held me, Sinch and Rogue avoided each others' gaze, Remus observed us all, and James sat silently, anger smoldering in his eyes.

I stood this for as long as I could, then wordlessly disentangled myself from Sirius and stood up. No one looked at me. Until, of course, I walked over to where Lily and Blake were sitting and grabbed his ear like McGonagall used to do to Sirius.

"What the bloody—" I cut off his words by twisting sharply on his ear. Everyone stared in shock.

"Aliep, what's the idea?" Lily cried, holding tightly to her boyfriend's hand.

"He is a Ravenclaw in the Gryffindor Common Room," I said calmly. "As a prefect, you know that this is terribly against the rules. I'm simply keeping you from getting detention from Mickey for letting him in." James praised me with his eyes.

"Stop, yo—ow!—what are—ow!—hey, that—ow!" Blake said as I towed him out of the Common Room. When we were outside the portrait, I turned to him.

"Listen to me, Blake," I whispered, releasing his ear. "I know you like Lily, okay? I understand that. But there are more girls out there that would be just the same to you. But James? He's in love with her. So leave her alone."

Blake stared at me with those very blue eyes, rubbing his ear. "She's different."

"I know she's different—she's unavailable!"

"Aliep, does Potter love her? Really? Are you sure she's not just a prize he's trying to win?"

"I'm sure." He was quiet. "Think about what I said, Blake. For Lily." I turned and headed back into the Common Room. Lily had gone back up to the dorm to sulk. "Well," I said brightly. "That was fun!" Not.

Everyone looked at me and shook their heads. "Marauder." They chorused.

.xXx.

"Hey, Prince!" said a ditzy voice somewhere behind me and off to my left. I was sitting at the breakfast table with the Marauders. Sinch was on my left. I could feel him restrain himself. _I_ was restraining myself. I hate it when people try to use our nicknames. All of Sinch's fan girls seemed to think that his name was 'Prince', not 'Prints'. Those freaks.

Sinch slowly turned around. "Hello…"

"Veronica," she supplied.

"Hello Veronica," he said, his voice monotone.

The girl squealed to her friends. "You see that! I told you he knew my name! We're soulmates," she decided, squeezing between myself and my twin, wrapping her arms around one of Sinch's. He gave her a long look. It was a long, pained, look. I could tell Rogue was watching out of the corner of her eye. She did _not_ have a happy look on her face, to say the least. We were both watching, waiting. Was Sinch going to get caught up in another 'relationship'?

Very carefully and with slow deliberance, Sinch pried the girl's fingers from his arm and stood up. She sat, blinking bright eyes at him, curious. Sinch stepped over the bench and slowly walked around to the other side of the table. He stood behind Rogue and pulled her to her feet, then turned her around to face him.

I saw Sinch's blue eyes search Rogue's face for a moment. "I'm sorry," he said softly, then leaned down and gently kissed her. Awwwwwwwwwwwwwww! Oh, wait, that's my brother! Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwww! Aw, it's still sweet! Rogue slid her arms around his neck and kissed him back. When they parted, she pressed the side of her face against his chest.

"I forgive you."

"Ah, but will you be my girlfriend?" When did Sinch learn to be so slick? I glanced at Sirius. Padfoot was smiling wickedly. Okay, so it was a stupid question. Never mind.

"Yes," Rogue said simply, tilting her head up for another kiss. Veronica grumbled and went back to her 'people'.

Uh oh, speaking of kissing, where's Lily? Shit. The look on James' face means that she's off somewhere with Blake. Probably snogging. I squeezed James' shoulder. He looked up with me, his hazel eyes full of anger. I nodded silently. James tried a smile, and I averted my eyes.

Lily was going to pay.

Oh, if I had known how right I was.

A/N: Bum, bum, BUM!


	18. Raise Your Glass

Disclaimer: Raise _my_ hand if you've heard this before.

A/N: Um… sorry for the long wait?

Chapter Seventeen

**Raise Your Glass**

James watched Lily. We all knew it. We saw him gaze at her during classes. We didn't miss the fact that when she looked up and met his eyes, he held her eyes as long as possible. We knew that she waited as long as she could before she looked away.

It was a sick game Lily was playing, pretending not to like James. She batted his heart around like a kitten with a mouse. The kitten plays for a while, amusing itself, before it goes in for the kill. Lily? Was playing. Blake was what she used to keep herself from feeling guilty about the damage she was doing to James.

Why was she doing it, anyway? It's because she had loved Addie, as a sister, mind you. Lily got hurt, like the rest of us, when Addie died. She doesn't want to get hurt, doesn't want to feel pain, hell, she doesn't want to feel. She's _afraid_ of what she feels for James.

So on she goes, killing him.

.xXx.

"People of Hogwarts," James called, standing on the bench, a goblet in one hand. We all looked at him curiously. "I ask you to raise your glasses." We did. "Raise them to Lily Evans," Oh no, not good. "Lily Evans, the one girl in all of Hogwarts capable of ripping my heart out and handing it back to me on a silver platter."

"James," I hissed, tugging on his slacks. He ignored me.

"Lily Evans, who is, as we speak, holding on to a Ravenclaw she doesn't even like."

Lily was turning very, very, red. "James," she said, her voice strained.

"Lily Evans, who must have a heart of stone."

"_James,"_ she pleaded, her voice breaking.

"Lily Evans, who is killing me. Slowly, oh so slowly."

"_James!"_

"So raise your glasses. To Lily Evans." James downed the contents of his glass and stepped off of the bench. James walked out of the Hall without a backward glance.

Lily looked at me, begging me to say something in the quiet Hall. I mockingly raised my glass to her and drank from it, as did the rest of the Marauders. We slammed our goblets down on the table as one, then stood and followed James out. All of Hogwarts watched us go. We turned at the doors, facing the room. Everyone looked at us expectantly. We bowed together in Lily's direction, once more mocking her, and headed out to find James.

.xXx.

"How could you do that to me?" Lily cried as I entered the dorm that night. "He _humiliates_ me in front of all Hogwarts, and you rub it in my face!" Rogue stayed out of our quarrel.

"I am a Marauder, Lily. I stick with my fellow Marauders."

"Am I less of a friend to you?" she wanted to know.

I looked at her, shocked. "Lily, James and I have been best friends since before we were born! Our fathers were best friends! James is as good as my brother, in case you hadn't noticed. Besides, he had every right to say what he said tonight: it was all true!"

"He doesn't love me!" she said, as if trying to assure herself of it.

"I think you've forgotten what love is."

"Oh, and you know?" Lily asked bitterly. "All you love is bravery!" Rogue winced.

"Well I'm sorry if I'm too busy being brave for the rest of you to even bother anyone else with my feelings!"

"You always have to take care of other people!"

"It's who I am, Lily!"

"No, you're just running from your feelings!"

"What, like you're running from your feelings for James?" Tears stung at the back of my eyes, but they poured down Lily's cheeks.

"I'm not running."

"Right, you're hiding," I retorted.

"You think you're any better?"

"At least I can face my emotions!"

"As if! You can't even talk about Addie, let alone _Anna!"_

I wordlessly turned and left the room. I'd sleep in the guys' dorm. How wrong Lily was, if she believed that she was in the right.


	19. Close the God Dang Door

Disclaimer: If the lawyers come after me, I'll drive away in my daddy's cute little sports car. They'll never catch me. Especially if I remove the license plates…

A/N: For my ridiculously bad behavior, I give you two updates in one day. Please don't stone me to death.

Chapter Eighteen

**Close the Goddamn Door**

"She's killing him," Sinch said. The rest of us nodded in agreement. We were up in the Marauders' dorm. James was off nursing his proverbial wounds.

"Aliep, you have to do something," Remus pleaded.

I shook my head. "No. Been there, done that, wound up sleeping on your floor last night."

"Actually, _I_ slept on the floor, you slept in my bed," Sirius corrected.

"Well, we could have both slept in your bed…" I tried.

"No." Sinch was so unreasonable…

"Well, whatever. But we have to do something about them."

"But what?" Peter asked, his forehead drawn.

"Why do we want them together?" Sirius wanted to know. "They'd just kill each other."

"But that's better than Lily just killing James," Remus reminded him. We all nodded again.

"It's a little pathetic," I said. "She has him so whipped."

"Which would be funny if he could whip her back," said Sinch.

"WHY DON'T YOU CLOSE THE GODDAMN DOOR?" bellowed a voice down stairs. We all winced. That would be James' voice. Oops. Peter quickly shut the door.

"This is completely ridiculous," amended Sinch.

I shook my head. "It has to be Lily, guys. She's the only one who can make this better."

"Well she doesn't seem to be interested in _that_, does she?" Remus asked furiously, gesturing out the window. We all looked out to see Lily walking to the lake, hand in hand with Blake.

"Wench," Sirius muttered. I gave him a reproving look. He shrugged. "It was either that or 'damn, easy, two-faced, heartless, slutty, bitchy, loose, siren-like harlot.'"

"Okay, so wench was better," Sinch decided. Remus rolled his eyes.

"They just need time," Remus decreed. We sighed and continued to look out the window.

Lily swung her and Blake's intertwined hands back and forth. He said something and she tossed her head back and laughed, red hair sparking in the morning sun. She smiled at him and he caressed her cheek. They continued walking. I ground my teeth in frustration.

"You sound like you're eating rocks when you do that," Sirius noted.

"If I had rocks with me, love, I wouldn't be eating them. I'd be throwing them at _him."_

"Amen," the boys chorused.

.xXx.

It wasn't obvious, and I wasn't sure I saw it at first. I swear to god, she wants him dead. We were in Transfiguration, pretending to work, only really not, because we're all slackers at heart and McGonagall was droning on while we were supposed to be taking notes or something.

James' attention was on Lily, of course. She had her hand in Blake's. Blake was looking down at her, smiling. When the blonde turned his attention to McGonagall, James turned to stare at Lily. She lifted her head to look at him. They held each others' gazes for a long moment. Blake looked back down at Lily. Lily tore her gaze from James' and smiled at her boyfriend. As soon as his attention shifted, she was back gazing at James.

The bell rang, releasing us for the day. I packed my things in an angry blaze, rushing to catch up with Lily. She was with :Blake:, of course.

"Excuse us, Blake," I said sweetly. He gave me a look.

"…No…"

"You really don't want to be here to hear this," I said urgently.

"Whatever you have to say to my girlfriend, you can say in front of me," he told me stoically.

"It's about _female _things." I trailed off as Blake ran for cover. I smirked to myself. Boys.

"What do you need?" she asked, eyes sharp on me.

"Leave James the hell alone. Just knock it off and get on with your life so he can get on with his."

"Aliep—"

"Or dump Blake and go out with James. I'm sure you can guess which option I would prefer you to take. Or you would if you were as smart as I used to think you were. But then, I used to think you cared for James, too." She stared at me, wide eyed. "And Lily? Don't speak to me until you've made a decision."

"Aliep, come on!" Sinch called.

"You're insane," Lily said.

I smiled slyly. "Yes."


	20. Let It Go

Disclaimer: You're probably contemplating killing me for just pissing around with this story, and I KNOW you'd never kill Jo, so, um… sorry?

Chapter Nineteen

**Let it Go**

Um, just, yeah. Fast forward, _please_.

The spring mood had gotten to everyone, including the Head Master, it seemed. Last minute he scheduled a dance for sixth and seventh years. It was nothing big, just something to release the stress of exams (NEWTS for the seventh years). The girls pulled out short dresses, the guys nice shirts and slacks. Most people didn't even bother with dates. If you were going out with someone, you went to the dance with them, if you weren't, then you'd find someone to have fun with at the dance.

As the Marauders, the guys and I decided to add our own touch to the decorations. When no one was looking, of course. We caught pixies, immobilized them, and charmed them to glow in the dark. We then levitated them into the Great Hall's 'sky'. The black simulation of the night sky caused the pixies to glow. Sirius arranged them so they spelled out 'SIXTH YEARS FOR LIFE'. Sirius. Then we all ran back up to our dorms and got ready.

As everyone entered the hall, we stood aside and made sure we were all the last ones in. We walked in together, causing everyone to turn. They were smiling appreciatively at our glowing pixies, and began clapping as we bowed.

"Hey, first dance for the Marauders, eh?" someone called to the lucky fifth year who was DJ-ing. The kid nodded and put on a song. Sirius pulled me to him, Sinch held on to Rogue. Remus was presented with the slender hand of a pretty sixth year Ravenclaw. She smiled shyly as he took it. Peter, even, found a girl to dance with. Sirius and I watched James, wary.

He waded into the crowd and emerged with Lily on his arm, looking as surprised as the rest of us were. He took Lily's waist and joined us, dancing. Blake must not have wanted to make a scene by arguing with a Marauder.

**:::WARNING::: YES, WE ONCE AGAIN STEP INTO THIRD PERSON OMNISCIENT FOR THE NEXT SCENE! **

Lily looked uncertainly at the hand James offered her. She glanced at Blake. He looked resigned, as if he knew that he couldn't argue with the Marauder. She slipped her hand into James'. He smiled brilliantly at her. He led her over to the dance floor, smiling unbelievingly. They came together to dance, both nervous.

"Thank you," James whispered in Lily's ear. She shivered. He paused, then continued. "It kills me, you know. Having to look at you only when your boyfriend isn't paying attention. Then when I do get to look at you, you're holding on to _him_."

"You think it's easy for me?" she hissed. "Waiting until he's not paying attention so I can look at you while I'm holding on to him?"

"So get rid of him!"

"No! I need to get rid of you, don't you get it? I want to be happy!"

He twirled her. "You would be happy with me."

"I would be happy with Blake, if you would stop _looking_ at me like that! Because when you look at me like that, I can't help but wonder _what if_."

"What's wrong with that?"

"I can't be happy with him if I'm busy wondering what it would be like to be with you! And I should be happy! I have a boyfriend who adores me, but I can't be happy with him if you're looking at me like that!"

James leaned down slowly and gently kissed her. "No more wondering." He whispered. Blake nearly exploded. Lily tore away from James and ran from the Hall. "Lily, wait!" Blake punched James right in the jaw. The DJ stopped the disc. The Marauders froze. James jumped to his feet and ran past Blake, following Lily.

Blake stared in shock. James Potter, not fighting back? When he turned his attention back in front of him, he found that he had forgotten one thing. James Potter was a Marauder. He was faced with a semi-circle of five angry teenagers who were popping their knuckles menacingly and wearing ruthlessly wicked smiles.

.xXx.

"Lily!" James caught up to Lily outside of the Charms classroom. She couldn't run very fast because she hadn't bothered to take off her high heels.

"Leave me alone, James," she said bitterly, pulling out of the hold he had on her elbow.

"I can't; I love you, Lily Evans," James said, a foolish grin on his face.

"So let me go and be happy! Haven't you ever heard the expression 'if you love something let it go'?"

"Yeah, I tried it on my owl when I was seven; it got hit by the Knight Bus."

Lily stared for a moment, not sure if he was joking. "James Potter?"

"Yes."

"I'm not going to get hit by the Knight Bus."

Slowly, James edged closer. "Worse may happen. You might _marry_, Lily. You might marry someone who isn't me."

Lily raised an eyebrow. "And that's a bad thing?"

James scowled. "I know you like me. What makes you think that you wouldn't be happy with someone who _loves _you? With me?"

Lily looked down at her very fashionable shoes. Anything to avoid meeting James' gaze. "Do you wanna know why?"

"Yes!"

She looked up at him with her wide emerald eyes. "Because what I feel for you scares the living shit out of me, James! I've already lost Addie, and Aliep's been so _strange_ lately. Everything's changing, James. Even my feelings for you, and it's really, _really_ freaking me out!"

Astonished, James looked down at the slight redhead for a long moment. Then he grinned, sliding his fingers under her chin to tilt her face up to his. He continued to grin for a moment more, then his expression sobered. "Things change, Lily Evans. But I will always love you." Lily stood on tiptoe and James kissed her gently.

"I love you too, James Potter."

"Promise to not shove me in front of the Knight bus, eh?"

.xXx.

We headed back up to the Common Room together, everyone deliriously happy. Sinch, Sirius, and James held on tightly to Rogue, myself, and Lily. Lily obviously ditched Blake, so I'm completely happy with her again. Then we saw my parents in the hallway, looking for Sinch and me, presumably.

"Mum! Dad!" I called. Sinch and I, grinning madly, raced to our parents. Then we stopped dead as they turned our direction.

Mum was holding a set of Quidditch robes. Big Quidditch robes. You know, the kind that would fit an extremely tall redheaded pranking Head Boy/Quidditch Captain a couple years ago. That kind of robe. With WHITE printed boldly on the back. Mum and Dad were crying.

Unbelieving tears slid down Sinch's face. "Mum," he whimpered. Our sobbing mother held him close. I didn't cry. I couldn't. I had to be strong. For my family. Especially Sinch. Dad pulled the three of us into a tight embrace as our friends headed respectfully into the Common Room. I stiffly allowed myself to be included in the hug.

My entire focus was on staying strong. I barely heard the words 'line of duty' and 'saved his partner'. My brother was gone. Forever. Children, Aunts, Uncles, Spouses, all can, in a sense, be replaced. But there is no way to replace an older sibling.

I will never have another elder brother. He was killed. And my elder sister? Missing, probably dead. But I have to be strong. For my family.


End file.
